Several creators and producers of copyrighted television programs brought this suit claiming that defendants had infringed their copyrights by intercepting broadcast transmissions of copyrighted material and re-channeling these programs through various community antenna television (CATV) systems to paying subscribers. The Supreme Court held that irrespective of the distance from the broadcasting station, the reception and retransmission of its signal by a CATV system does not constitute a “performance” of a copyrighted work.

View "Teleprompter Corp. v. Columbia Broadcasting" on the Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center