Intermountain Electronics, Inc. v. Tintic School Dist.
| Decision Date | 10 January 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 9676,9676 |
| Citation | 377 P.2d 783,14 Utah 2d 86 |
| Parties | d 86, 47 P.U.R.3d 526 INTERMOUNTAIN ELECTRONICS, INC., a corporation, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. TINTIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, a body corporate of the State of Utah, et al., Defendants and Respondents. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Andrew John Brennan, Salt Lake City, for appellant.
George M. McMillan, Salt Lake City, James F. Housley, Udell R. Jensen, Nephi, for respondents.
Plaintiff sued to restrain defendants from installing a television (TV) translator (booster) station to serve the residents of Juab County. From an order granting defendants' motion to dismiss, plaintiff appeals.
In May, 1955, plaintiff was granted a franchise by the town of Eureka, in Juab County, to construct and operate a community antenna television system, hereinafter referred to as CATV. Due to the fact that the micro waves which carry television signals travel in straight lines and do not follow the curvature of the earth as do radio waves, they are cut off by the curving earth's surface and can be picked up only at relatively short distances. The distance is extended, and this difficulty lessened, by transmission from high elevations and pickup by high antennas. Nevertheless, in Juab County, which is about 100 plus miles from the nearest TV broadcasting stations, at Salt Lake City, reception on private sets, even with high antennas, is poor to nonexistent. Following a system often used in such outlying areas, the plaintiff installed a master antenna on a mountain peak, ran a line from it down to the town of Eureka, and connected lines to homes of those who had signed contracts to pay a monthly rate for this service.
The legislature has recognized the wide appeal of television and the important place it has taken in the lives of our people. The 1957 session authorized school districts and counties to install facilities to make television signals available in outlying areas by amending Sec. 11-2-2, U.C.A.1953, to read as follows:
'Such local authorities * * * in areas so remote * * * that television reception is impossible without special equipment, and adequate, economical and proper television is not available to the public by private sources, * * * may equip and maintain television transmission and relay facilities * * *.' (Emphasis added.)
On June 6, 1961, the Board of Commissioners of Juab County and the Board of Education of the Tintic School District, acting pursuant to the above statute, entered into an agreement with the defendant, TV Pix, Inc., for the latter to install a television translator station on Eureka Peak in Juab County. This differs from the plaintiff's CATV described above. It receives signals from the originating television stations; and with their consent, amplifies and rebroadcasts them to make them available to people in the whole surrounding area, which, incidentally, includes the town of Eureka.
In support of its application for an injunction to prevent the proposed project, the plaintiff sets forth ...
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Baltimore Steam Co. v. Baltimore Gas & Elec. Co.
...the rule to situations in which competition actually invades a franchisee's property rights. Cf. Intermountain Elecs., Inc. v. Tintic Sch. Dist., 14 Utah 2d 86, 88, 377 P.2d 783, 785 (1963) (a cable television franchisee's property rights are not invaded as a result of competition from a br......
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Paragould Cablevision Inc. v. City of Paragould
...courts resorted to basic principles of property law and the law of unfair competition. See, e.g., Intermountain Electronics, Inc. v. Tintic School Dist., 14 Utah 2d 86, 377 P.2d 783 (1963); Cable Vision, Inc. v. KUTV, Inc., 211 F.Supp. 47 (D.Idaho 1962), vacated, 335 F.2d 348 (9th Cir.1964)......
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KAKE-TV & Radio, Inc. v. City of Wichita
...situation, somewhat analogous to that with which we deal, was presented to the Utah Supreme Court in Intermountain Electronics, Inc. v. Tintic School Dist., 14 Utah 2d 86, 377 P.2d 783. The plaintiff, who was engaged in the field of cable television, had been granted a franchise to operate ......
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Cablevision of Breckenridge, Inc. v. Tannhauser Condominium Ass'n, 80SC354
...signals by use of a home antenna or a competing, properly licensed subscription service, see Intermountain Electronics, Inc. v. Tintic School District, 14 Utah 2d 86, 377 P.2d 783 (1963), Cablevision does have a legally protected interest in the reception, processing and distribution system......