Once again, Lady Justice has struck a blow of freedom and equality for TV watchers everywhere, just the way our Founding Fathers intended (even though they never owned TVs).

A U.S. Appeals Court in D.C. refused to change laws that required cable companies to provide channels they own to satellite carriers on equal terms. Comcast and Cablevision have been trying to overturn the law in open court.

That means that thanks to Comcast's ownership of NBC-Universal, people who watch TV on satellites will have to endure marathons of 'To Catch a Predator' and Keith Olbermann's giant talking head like the rest of us.

The cable companies sought to overturn the rule because, as one Cablevision press release put it, "[the] rules are based on an outdated and obsolete view of the competitive landscape."

Sure, forcing people to join certain cable companies to get their favorite channels makes sense in the short term, but it would kill their properties in the long run. By eliminating channels from certain services just because you own them also limits the number of eyeballs watching them. How does having a smaller audience for your show improve the value of it?

Where would it end? Thanks to Comcast's thinking, now that they own the majority of NBC-Universal, that means every NBC property from their cable networks to their main channel would only appear on Comcast cable boxes. This is just another attempt to chip away at the membrane of federal regulation.

And why do I get the feeling that my cable bill is about to surpass my monthly car payment?