Around 100 brightly lit Los Angeles digital billboards―considered a blight by those whose yards and homes are bathed in the intrusive light, and a boon by cash-strapped city officials―were ordered removed by an appeals court on Monday.

The decision culminated a decade-long battle which began with a proposed city ordinance that would have restricted installation of new billboards to special sign districts. Clear Channel and CBS sued the city and, as part of a 2006 settlement, received permission to convert 800 conventional billboards to digital with few restrictions on where they were placed.

The city signed the deal, although a city ordinance clearly banned conversion of existing billboards to digital. It also grandfathered in hundreds of billboards erected or modified illegally.

Members of the public who found the digital billboards unsightly, intrusively annoying and a distraction to drivers were outraged, but it was a small sign competitor, Summit Media, that complained of being shut out by the sweetheart deal, sued and won a Los Angeles County Superior Court decision in 2009 invalidating the “poison” agreement.   

However, the court allowed 100 digital billboards that were already in operation to continue. That decision was reversed by the three-judge panel of the California's 2nd District Court of Appeal. It can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

Appeals Court Orders Removal of 100 Digital Billboards Across L.A. (by David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times)

Appeals Court Rules 100 Digital Billboards in Los Angeles Must Come Down (by Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Daily News)

Summit Media LLC v. City of Los Angeles (California Court of Appeal, Second District) (pdf)

Billboard Company Writes the L.A. City Council Proposal on Digital Signs (by Ken Broder, AllGov California)

Digital Billboards Become a Bohemian Blasphemy (by Christine Pelisek, LA Weekly)