Program Access Disputes Draw Industry Attention, Not FCC Action
Program access disputes are now drawing industry attention, not FCC action, commission and industry officials said. They said some pay-TV companies are discussing carriage deals to avert further complaints to the FCC, and the commission is awaiting filings from defendants in filed cases. Cablevision and spun-off subsidiary Madison Square Garden, the subject of complaints by AT&T and Verizon, continue trading filings with the telcos on procedures for the FCC to handle the cases (CD Aug 2 p9) and don’t seem near a settlement, said communications lawyers monitoring the disputes and not involved in them. They said Comcast could reach carriage deals with direct broadcast satellite providers for its Philadelphia sports channels and so could Cox Communications for a San Diego network.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
FCC action doesn’t seem imminent on AT&T and Verizon’s updated complaints against Cablevision or on a petition for reconsideration of a Media Bureau denial of an earlier case against Cox by AT&T, commission and industry officials said. The bureau doesn’t seem ready to act soon, they said. A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment. Commissioners and their offices haven’t been closely involved in the issue and don’t seem to feel urgency to get involved while the companies negotiate, FCC and industry officials said.
"Every time we have new rules, you have some scratching their heads, but these rules are very clear,” said satellite-industry lawyer Pantelis Michalopoulos of Steptoe & Johnson, not involved in the pending cases. “Perhaps there are some questions being asked about what those rules mean, but I think they are pretty clear.” The commission’s opportunity to accept motions to require carriage and consider the public interest should help bring down costs for pay-TV providers and consumers, he said. “Program access changes show promise to change things. Hopefully, this will result in lower prices for consumers, since programming cost is one of the largest cost items. This combination of changes is particularly promising.” The rule changes will also help lead to a “regime that is completely nondiscriminatory for all distributors, Michalopoulos.
Cox continues discussing with pay-TV providers carriage of its channel featuring San Diego Padres baseball games and Comcast with rivals for a channel carrying games of Philadelphia professional teams, executives and lawyers said. The reason that Cox agreed to talks with AT&T, DirecTV and Dish Network (CD June 17 p14) probably was to avert a complaint from either of the satellite providers or an amended one from AT&T taking advantage of new program access rules, said lawyers not involved in the discussions. Cox has no deals to disclose, a spokesman said. “Our major competitors in the market have received outreach to invite them negotiations for carriage.” AT&T, Dish and DirecTV executives had no updates on any talks.
Cablevision doesn’t seem likely to enter talks with AT&T or Verizon, which seek New York sports channels MSG and MSG+ in HD, industry lawyers said. They noted the cable operator has a lawsuit against the commission over the program access rules and executives don’t seem to want to provide the HD channels to telco competitors that already carry the networks in standard definition. “It should be clear by now that whatever problems Verizon and AT&T are having in the marketplace has nothing to do with a lack of HD programming,” a Cablevision spokeswoman said. “The idea that phone companies 10 and 20 times our size need a regulatory bailout is absurd."
Verizon wants the Cablevision case resolved by Sept. 9, a month before the New York Islanders’ and Rangers’ first regular-season hockey games, which air on MSG, the telco said in an FCC filing Monday. “For more than a year, Defendants have sought to drag out and delay this proceeding,” the filing said. “At every turn, Cablevision has stubbornly refused to take any action that might move this proceeding forward. Rather than accept the firm 45-day deadline to respond to Verizon’s supplemental complaint, Cablevision in its July 29 letter” contends it can’t respond without discovery. AT&T lodged a supplemental complaint last month (CD July 15 p9).
Whether Comcast is inclined to sign a deal with Dish and DirecTV, which seek access to Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, depends partly on whether the cable operator thinks such access would become an issue in FCC review of its planned purchase of control of NBC Universal, two industry lawyers said. Dish last week said it plans to file a carriage complaint against Comcast (CD Aug 2 p10). Comcast seems inclined to strike a deal with DirecTV if the satellite provider gets to distribute the NFL’s Sunday Ticket, which DirecTV carries exclusively, a cable lawyer said. Comcast and CSN Philadelphia continue talking, an executive said. Verizon’s FiOS service already carries CSN Philadelphia, a spokesman for the telco said. A Comcast spokeswoman didn’t reply to a message seeking comment.
It’s too early to tell how the revised program-access rules are affecting negotiations, said an executive of a company that’s in access discussions. The companies are still feeling each other out on how much leverage the right to file a complaint provides, the executive said.