This is perhaps one of the most important cases in U.S. communications policy history in that it upheld the FCC’s authority to make policies that addressed public interest concerns beyond license allocation and signal interference issues. In this particular instance, the Supreme Court upheld the Commission’s authority to regulate the relationship between broadcast networks and their affiliates. In this case, the Court upheld the Commission’s imposing of regulations limiting the extent to which networks could influence the programming practices of their affiliates. In this regard, the Commission’s policy objective of preserving local programming autonomy was supported by the Court’s decision.