A federal appeals court should not overturn an FCC decision...
A federal appeals court should not overturn an FCC decision ordering Comcast to carry the Tennis Channel more broadly than it had, said the federal government, Tennis Channel and Bloomberg in briefs filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for…
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the D.C. Circuit. The commission’s order is subject to intermediate scrutiny, rather than strict scrutiny, under the First Amendment, the government argued in its brief. “The agency’s purpose -- to ensure that Comcast does not leverage its position in a way that unreasonably restrains Tennis Channel’s ability to compete -- is unrelated to the content of expression,” it said. And under such scrutiny, the order stands up, it said. “The remedy is narrowly tailored so as to avoid burdening more speech than necessary,” the brief said. Furthermore the order fell well within FCC authority under Section 616 of the Communications Act, the government said. The record showed that Comcast discriminated against Tennis Channel, the network, which is partly owned by DirecTV and Dish, and the court must uphold the FCC’s finding of facts unless they are unsupported by substantial evidence, Tennis Channel said in its brief. “There will be few cases in which an independent network can present stronger evidence of discrimination,” Tennis Channel said. Bloomberg filed an amicus brief arguing in favor of the FCC’s decision. “Comcast’s argument is a frontal attack on the entire program carriage regime … presented as an ‘as applied’ challenge to the order in this case,” Bloomberg said.