Comcast Wins Stay In FCC Tennis Channel Decision

Written by: Staff on 27th August 2012

Comcast Wins Stay In FCC Tennis Channel Decision |

Just two weeks before Comcast was going to move Tennis Channel to a more basic tier that would have made it available in 18 million more homes, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted Comcast’s request for a stay of the Federal Communications Commission order mandating distribution of the Tennis Channel on its cable systems while its appeal is pending.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals said that the cable giant Comcast had “satisfied the requirements for a stay pending court review.”

The stay is at least a temporary blow to Tennis Channel. As Comcast had just announced to its customers that on September 7 it would move Tennis Channel off its more expensive sports tier to its digital starter and digital preferred tiers, the same place where two of the channels it owns — NBC Sports Net and Golf Channel – reside.

“We are pleased the Court of Appeals has recognized the serious issues raised by the FCC’s unprecedented Tennis Channel decision and granted our request to stay the FCC’s action, sparing millions of our customers needless disruption,” Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in a statement.

Tennis Channel countered that it’s “disappointed by today’s U.S. Court of Appeals stay decision. We believe that the FCC’s decision was correct and that the court will agree with the FCC when it considers the full case.”

It will be the FCC, not Tennis Channel, that will be arguing its decision to the courts, so Tennis Channel can only sit on the sidelines and hope the courts sides with the commission.

Tennis Channel officials were said to be surprised by the court’s stay.

FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai, who had voted against the Tennis Channel’s complaint, told Multichannel News that “we believe the decision errs on both the law and the facts, undermines the public interest, and raises serious First Amendment concerns. We look forward to the federal appeals court giving this matter a full and fair hearing while preventing irreparable harm to the parties.”

Tennis Channel filed its initial complaint against Comcast a little over two years ago. An administrative law judge, an FCC bureau decision and a full FCC commission vote all went Tennis Channel’s way.

The FCC also assessed $375,000 against Comcast.

“We look forward to defending our order on the merits,” FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield told Bloomberg.

The court hasn’t scheduled arguments and it is unclear how long it will take for it to rule on Comcast’s appeal.

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Topics: Comcast tennis news, Sports, Tennis Channel news, Tennis News, tennis on tv