Federal Communications Commission v. Midwest Video Corporation et al.

Decided April 2, 1979. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-1575 · 440 U.S. 689 (1979) · Cited 149 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• United States v. Midwest Video Corp. · 406 U.S. 649 (1972)
• United States v. Southwestern Cable Co. · 392 U.S. 157 (1968)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co. · 309 U.S. 134 (1940)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 518 U.S. 727 (1996)
• CBS, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 453 U.S. 367 (1981)
• Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck · 587 U.S. 802 (2019)
• Federal Communications Commission v. WNCN Listeners Guild · 450 U.S. 582 (1981)
• Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp · 467 U.S. 691 (1984)
• Federal Communications Commission v. League of Women Voters of California · 468 U.S. 364 (1984)
• City of New York v. Federal Communications Commission · 486 U.S. 57 (1988)
• Leathers v. Medlock · 499 U.S. 439 (1991)
• City of Los Angeles v. Preferred Communications, Inc. · 476 U.S. 488 (1986)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Byron Raymond White’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).