The FCC got process and substance right in finding against WealthTV’s program...
The FCC got process and substance right in finding against WealthTV’s program carriage complaint that four cable operators favored their own affiliated channel over the independent network, the government responded to the indie’s lawsuit (CD March 13 p5). “The programming…
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was different,” despite what the complainant said about its content being similar to that on Mojo, affiliated with Bright House Networks, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable and carried by them unlike WealthTV, the U.S. said in a brief to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. An FCC administrative law judge who recommended the commission rule in the cable operators’ favor didn’t err by placing the burden of proof on the plaintiff and not defendants, the brief said. “WealthTV concedes that the ALJ’s approach did not violate any statute or rule: neither section 536(a)(3) nor the FCC’s program carriage rules ... assign the burden of proof to either party,” the agency and Justice Department said (http://xrl.us/bm49m7). “In fact, how to allocate the burdens of production and persuasion after a claimant has established a prima facie case is the subject of a pending FCC rulemaking."