In the case of Sangamon Valley Television Corp. v. United States et al., 1958, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and against Sangamon Valley Television Corporation. The dispute arose when Sangamon applied for a construction permit to build a television station on Channel 2 in Springfield, Illinois. However, their application was denied by FCC due to its policy that prioritized educational programming over commercial use for Channels 2-6 where possible. Despite this setback, Sangamon argued that FCC's decision was arbitrary and capricious as they had not provided sufficient evidence supporting their preference for non-commercial educational broadcasting on these channels. The Supreme Court upheld FCC's decision stating it fell within its jurisdiction to allocate broadcast frequencies according to public interest standards set out in the Communications Act of 1934 - which included promoting widespread education through radio communication among all people of U.S.A.. Furthermore, it noted that while there may be disagreement about what constitutes 'public interest', such decisions were best left with administrative agencies like FCC who have expertise and experience dealing with complex regulatory issues.

In the dissenting opinion for Sangamon Valley Television Corp. v. United States et al., Justice Harlan argued that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had overstepped its authority by denying a television station license to Sangamon Valley based on their assessment of 'public interest'. He contended that this was not within the FCC's purview as it involved making judgments about programming content, which should be left to broadcasters and audiences rather than government agencies. Furthermore, he expressed concern about potential First Amendment violations, arguing that such decisions could lead to censorship or favoritism towards certain types of content. In his view, unless there were technical reasons preventing issuance of a license - such as signal interference - the FCC should not deny applications based on subjective evaluations of program quality or value.