minimum criteria that a franchising authority must meet before such a certificate This order was affirmed on judicial review (Black Hills Video Corp. V. FCC, 399 F.2d 65 (8th Cir. 1968)). United States V. Sw. Cable Co., 392 U.S. 157, 167-78 (1968). The Regulation of Last-Mile Broadband Networks would be issued, including most notably for our purposes a minimum degree of rate regulation and a minimum level of access requirements (FCC 1972). 6 This heightened level of interest would soon prove to be short-lived. Beginning in 1974, the FCC soon began issuing a series of orders leading to federal dereg- ulation of cable television. Most importantly for our purposes, in 1976 the FCC eliminated the federal standards governing rate regulation and instead left those decisions to local authorities (FCC 1976b). The FCC initially retained the access requirements, with some modifications, only to abandon these requirements as well the following year (FCC 1976a, 1977). Ambiguity about the federal-municipal division of jurisdiction led to a patchwork of often inconsistent regulation as well as additional Supreme Court decisions about the proper scope of federal authority. Widespread criticism emerged about the ineffectiveness and abuses of the local regulatory process. 9 At this point, the central locus of federal regulation shifted from the FCC to Congress when it enacted the Communications Policy Act of 1984. The 1984 Act endorsed the existing regime of dual regulation by giving the FCC explicit statutory authority to regulate the cable industry while simultaneously recognizing municipalities' discretion over whether to include certain types of access mandates as franchise conditions. At the same time, the 1984 Act preempted local regulation of cable rates and services (Statutes at Large 1984, pp. 2782-84, 2788, 2801). The D.C. Circuit invalidated must carry the following year, 10 and the FCC's subsequent attempt to revive it failed in 1988. 11 The invalidation of must carry and sharp in- creases in cable prices caused Congr