Toledo Tv Cable Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Newport Tv Cable Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

OPINION

In these consolidated appeals, the petitioning taxpayers challenge the Tax Court’s conclusion that two municipal franchises for community antenna television could not qualify for depreciation deductions under Section 167(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. We need not review the facts inasmuch as they are carefully set forth in the Tax Court’s Opinion, reported at 55 T.C. 1107.

The rule is that assets such as those here involved must be shown to have a determinable useful life in order to qualify as depreciable property. Since the franchises originally acquired by the taxpayers…