The Secretary, Ministry Of ... vs Cricket Association Of Bengal & ... on 9 February, 1995 programme format is in the public interest and that the FCC's Policy Statement should be vacated since it did not contain a safety valve procedure that allowed the FCC the flexibility to consider applications for exemptions based on special circumstances and since it failed to provide a rational explanation for distinguishing between entertainment and non-entertainment programming for purposes of requiring Commission review of format changes. 32.In City of Los Angeles & Department of Water and Power v. Preferred Communications, Inc. [476 US 488: 90 L ed 2d 480], a cable television company asked a public utility and the city of Los Angeles's water and power department for permission to lease space on their utility poles in order to provide cable television service to part of the city. The respondent-company was told that it must first obtain franchise from the appellant-City which refused to grant one on grounds that the company had failed to participate in an auction that was to award a single franchise in the area. The respondent sued claiming violation of his right under the free speech clause of the First Amendment. It was alleged in the complaint that there was sufficient physical capacity and the economic demand in the area at issue to accommodate more than one cable company and that the city's auction process allowed it to discriminate among applicants. As against this, the appellant argued that lack of space on public utility structures, the limited economic demand, and the practical and aesthetic disruptive effects on the public right of way justified its decision. The District Court dismissed the complaint. On appeal, the US Court of Appeals reversed and remanded ',or further proceedings. The US Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals. Rehnquist, J. expressing the unanimous decision of the Court held: "...[1]that the cable television company's complaint should not have been dismissed, since the activities in which it allegedly, sought to engage plainly implicated First Amendment interests where they included the communications of messages on a wide variety of topics and in a wide variety of formats, through original programming or by exercising editorial discretion over which stations or programs to include in its repertoire, but [2] that it was not desirable to express any more detailed views on the proper resolution of the First Amendment question without a more thor- oughly developed record of proceedings in which the parties would have an opportunity to prove those disputed factual assertions upon which they relied." 33.The position of law on the freedom of speech and press has been explained in [16 Am Jur 2d 3431 as under: "The liberty of the press was initially a right to publish without a license that which formerly could be published only with one, and although this freedom from previous. restraint upon publication could not be regarded as exhausting the guaranty of liberty, the prevention of that restraint was a leading purpose in the adoption of the First Amendment. It is well established that liberty of the press historically considered and taken up by the Federal Constitution, means principally, although not exclusively, immunity from previous restraints or censorships. Stated differently, the rule is that an essential element of the liberty of the press is its freedom from all censorships over what shall be published and exemption from control, in advance, as Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/539407/ 20