arranged in a ring, known as neighborhood or fiber nodes. The final connection between the fiber node and individual subscribers is made through copper-based coaxial cables. Cable modem service also requires special equipment at the headend, known as a cable modem termination system (CMTS), to manage the flow of data between cable subscribers and various types of broadband services, such as e-mail, IP telephony, content cached locally, and content residing on the World Wide Web (see Figure 10.1). The regulation of cable modem systems has been influenced by the frame- work of overlapping municipal and federal regulation that governs cable television. Municipalities have asserted regulatory jurisdiction over cable television since the first cable system was established in 1949, largely as a result over their control over the public rights of way upon which cable depends to provide service. From the outset, municipalities imposed access requirements and regulated retail rates in an effort to limit any exercise of cable operators' monopoly power throughout the entire history of the cable industry. This order was affirmed on judicial review (Time Warner Telecom, Inc. V. FCC, 507 F.3d 205 (3d Cir. 2007)). Networks in Telecommunications Cable Headend Customer Premises Circuit Voice Voice Switch Network Coaxial Cable Fiber Fiber Splitter Video Packet Switch Network Figure 10.1. Typical configuration of cable modem system. Federal regulation of cable television, in contrast, has hardly been a model of consistency. The FCC initially ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over the cable industry and called on Congress to give it explicit statutory authority (FCC 1958, 1959). Despite Congress's failure to enact such legislation, the FCC soon reversed course, tentatively concluding in 1965 that it had jurisdiction over cable, although the FCC disavowed any intention to preempt the "local components" of cable television, including ratemaking, franchise fees, and the nature of the services provided (FCC 1965b; see also FCC 1962, 196