The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court's dismissal of a class action claim brought by the city of Ashdown, Arkansas, against Netflix and Hulu seeking compliance with the state's 2013 Video Service Act, which established a statewide franchising scheme for video service providers.

According to the Nov. 8 opinion, the VSA allows providers to either negotiate franchises with individual political subdivisions in Arkansas, or to obtain a certificate of franchise authority from the secretary of state, which would cover multiple subdivisions. Providers holding a certificate would be authorized to use the public right-of-way to deliver video service for a fee paid to the subdivision.