Broadcast flag struck down

Money quotes from the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, in its ruling on the broadcast flag case:

The result that we reach in this case finds support in the All
Channel Receiver Act of 1962 and the Communications
Amendments Act of 1982. These two statutory enactments
confirm that Congress never conferred authority on the FCC to
regulate consumers’ use of television receiver apparatus after
the completion of broadcast transmissions.

There is no statutory foundation for the
broadcast flag rules, and consequently the rules are ancillary to
nothing. Therefore, we hold that the Commission acted outside
the scope of its delegated authority when it adopted the disputed
broadcast flag regulations.

And from Circuit Judge Edwards, writing for the majority:

The principal question
presented by this case is whether Congress delegated authority
to the Federal Communications Commission in the Communications Act of 1934, to regulate
apparatus that can receive television broadcasts when those
apparatus are not engaged in the process of receiving a broadcast
transmission. In the seven decades of its existence, the FCC has
never before asserted such sweeping authority. Indeed, in the
past, the FCC has informed Congress that it lacked any such
authority. In our view, nothing has changed to give the FCC the
authority that it now claims.