FCC Enforcement Bureau Rules Against Comcast Re Tennis Channel

Written by: Staff on 9th February 2012

FCC Enforcement Bureau Rules Against Comcast Re Tennis Channel |

Tennis Channel took another step forward in its battle with cable giant Comcast when the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau recommended that the commission itself deny Comcast’s request for a stay of the initial decision by a judge that its higher tier placement of the Tennis Channel violated the commission’s program carriage rules.

Comcast had claimed that immediate enforcement of the decision would violate its constitutional rights and confuse its viewers if it had to alter its lineup, but the bureau said the claims had no merit.

“The public-interest would be served by providing broad public access to additional cable programming where, as here, there has been a sufficient showing of discrimination, the bureau said in a statement obtained by Multichannel News. “Comcast was afforded its due process by participating in a full and fair adjudicatory proceeding, and it is now the public’s turn to get that to which it is entitled.”

The judge in the case had written that Comcast had discriminated against Tennis Channel in favor of Versus (which is now called NBC Sports Network), and Golf Channel, which it owns and has on more basic tiers. He wrote that Comcast could carry Tennis Channel on any tier, but would have to carry Versus and Golf Channel on the same tier, or not at all.

“Despite being ordered to treat Tennis Channel the same as its own similarly situated Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network (Versus), Comcast’s filings and its continuing discrimination demonstrate that it’s not challenging whether or not it violated Section 616; it’s challenging the statute itself and the Commission’s authority to enforce it,” the Tennis Channel said in a statement.

“Whether or not it wants to see the rules changed is irrelevant to the end result of the hearing. Tennis Channel won, and Comcast must abide by the FCC regulations in place today.”

However, it appears that Comcast will fight the decision as long as it has to. It will press its case with FCC commissioners and if necessary will take it to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Comcast claims the decision “supersedes an existing contract between two private parties, which is unprecedented in the program carriage context.”

Tennis Channel recently signed a new deal with Verizon, which gave them access to another 2 million homes, but it is still battling with another huge company, Cablevision, which dropped it during the 2011 US Open over a tier dispute.

Topics: Tennis Channel