Ohio Suburb Can't Sue Streamers for Franchise Fees: Court

Netflix and Hulu don't qualify as video service providers under Ohio's Fair Competition in Cable Operations Act and the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights can't sue the streaming services under the law's video service provider provisions, the Ohio Supreme Court said in an opinion Wednesday penned by Justice Michael Donnelly. Before the court were two questions submitted by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where Maple Heights' lawsuit against the streamers for unpaid video service provider franchise fees is pending (see 2204130044). Oral argument was in April (case 2021-0864). The court said the state law is unambiguous that only the state commerce director can determine if an entity is a video service provider, and the law doesn't authorize local governments to challenge that determination. "Maple Heights simply does not have express statutory authority to bring the underlying action," it said. "The legislature knows how to grant local governments such authority and chose not to do so here." Maple Heights outside counsel didn't comment.