Posted on 02/25/2013 12:25:59 PM PST by Dave346
Judges Have Issues with Statute of Limitations on Carriage Complaint, First Amendment Implications of Remedy
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals heard the case of Comcast vs. the FCC on Monday, challenging the FCC's first-ever finding in favor of a program carriage complaint and its imposition of a carriage remedy. While the judges usually wield a gavel, in this case is was more like a hammer, with the FCC mostly on the receiving end.
Between the serious First Amendment issues with the FCC's carriage remedy expressed by Judge Brett Kavanaugh and the contract issues on which Judge Harry Edwards focused, the FCC appeared to have an uphill fight to keep its decision from being remanded back. Following the hearing, sources on both sides of the case expressed that sentiment following lengthy questioning that saw FCC and Tennis Channel lawyers.
In a 3-2 party line vote, the FCC in July 2012 upheld an FCC judge's ruling that Comcast discriminated against Tennis Channel by carrying it in a sports tier, while carrying its co-owned Golf Channel and Versus (now NBC Sports Network) on a more widely viewed basic tier. Comcast appealed the decision to the FCC, then the court.
The FCC remedy was to provide Tennis Channel with the same level of distribution, whether that be basic or sports tier or not carrying it at all -- that it provided its co-owned channels.
Judges Kavanaugh and Edwards were joined by Judge Stephen Williams on the panel, but the former two asked most of the questions. Since judges often play devil's advocate, it is hard to predict how the judges will come down on this case. The FCC is due some deference as the expert administrative agency, but the D.C. Circuit is the one that threw out the FCC's Comcast...
(Excerpt) Read more at multichannel.com ...
uhhh...since Comcast now OWNS NBC (and the Tennis Channel, and all the other channels herein mentioned) should not this case be dismissed as moot?
As far as I know Comcast/NBC have no ownership stake in Tennis Channel.
Sorry, article said it was co-owned with the Golf Channel and Versus (now NBC Sports Channel)
I have Comcast and I only use a dozen or so out of the 200 channels and Golf being one. They aren’t interested in what the customers want, instead only squeezing them for more profits, otherwise they’d have ala cart pricing instead of forcing customers to buy packages.
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