Randolph May, a former FCC associate general counsel and head of the Free State Foundation, said the ruling was not unexpected. "There are commissioners who have persisted in wanting to take an overly constrained view of competition in the communications marketplace," he said, noting this is the second time in recent months the court has reversed an FCC policy. Progress and Freedom Foundation President Ken Ferree said he was glad the D.C. Circuit is there to serve "as a backstop of rationality when the administrative agencies run amok."

Media Access Project President Andrew Jay Schwartzman said he was disappointed but surprised with the ruling. "Although Congress directed the FCC to establish limits on cable ownership in 1992, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has been disinclined to approve such regulations. It is hard to imagine that any rule the FCC could devise would ever withstand review under the standards established in today's decision," he said.