Tennis Channel Wins Major FCC Ruling

Written by: Staff on 26th July 2012

Tennis Channel Wins Major FCC Ruling |

The Federal Communications Commission has ruled that cable giant Comcast had discriminated against Tennis Channel and has ordered it to provide Tennis Channel with the same level of distribution it gives to similarly situated co-owned networks Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network.

However, it does not have to give Tennis Channel similar/adjacent channel positioning.

In a 3-2 vote, the commission concluded that “Tennis Channel has demonstrated that Comcast discriminated against Tennis Channel and in favor of Golf Channel and Versus on the basis of affiliation, and that this discrimination unreasonably restrained Tennis Channel’s ability to compete. By relegating the Tennis Channel to a more expensive sports tier, which reached only about 3 million Comcast homes, Comcast had effectively limited the channel’s reach and crimped its revenue prospects.”

Comcast has said it will appeal to the courts, but for now it must add the Tennis Channel into an additional 18 million households, which also mean that it will have to pay the network millions of dollars more each year for its programming. Tennis Channel is currently available in about 34 million homes nationwide. The FCC has given 45 days to do so and also slapped Comcast with a $375,000 fine.

“The Commission’s decision constitutes a persuasive rejection of each argument Comcast has sought to make over the past several years to justify its discriminatory treatment of Tennis Channel,” the channel said in a statement.

“Significantly, the Commission’s decision is the fourth from the agency which underscore that the conduct Tennis Channel alleged violates the statutory protections in place to protect independent networks against the harmful incentives created by vertical integration in the cable industry. We have the greatest respect for Comcast, its leadership and the service it provides to one fourth of the nation’s pay-TV marketplace. Now that the Commission has definitively ruled, we invite Comcast to work with us to ensure Tennis Channel, Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network are equally available to Comcast viewers. While our network will benefit greatly from the broader carriage, ultimately it is the consumer who has won today.”

The FCC’s decision marks the first time that a cable operator was found in violation of federal anti-discrimination program carriage rules, established by the agency in 1993.

Comcast said it planned to appeal the decision.

“We are disappointed,” Kyle McSlarrow, president of Comcast/NBCUniversal Washington affairs, said in a statement. “The finding of a violation here is inconsistent with the evidence, which shows that all major distributors recognize that Tennis Channel does not merit the same carriage as Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network. The decision will accomplish nothing other than to drive up programming costs and enrich a group of wealthy investors in the Tennis Channel.

Comcast has carried the Tennis Channel for more than seven years under a contract Tennis Channel freely negotiated, which this government action would now override. The majority’s ruling misapplies Congress’s narrowly tailored statutory standards for discrimination and competitive harm, ignores evidence demonstrating that Comcast’s business decisions with respect to Tennis Channel were based on unbiased cost-benefit analyses (not improper discrimination), misreads the statute of limitations, and violates Comcast’s First Amendment rights. We plan to appeal this decision to the courts.”

The 3-2 vote was along party lines, with the three Democrat appointees finding in favor of Tennis Channel and the two Republican commissioners dissenting.

The ruling comes at a good time for Tennis Channel, about a month before the US Open, and it’s possible that Comcast will increase its distribution before or during that time period.

Topics: 10sballs.com, business news, NBC Sports Network, Sports, sports new, Tennis and Comcast, Tennis Channel