Stifel Nicolaus is among the courtroom observers predicting an FCC loss...
Stifel Nicolaus is among the courtroom observers predicting an FCC loss in Comcast’s challenge to a program carriage order in Tennis Channel’s favor (CD Feb 26 p1). That the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.…
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Circuit at Monday’s oral argument on Comcast v. FCC “pursued different lines of attack” against last year’s order “raises questions about the basis for a possible reversal,” wrote analysts David Kaut, who attended the hearing, and Christopher King to investors. “The D.C. Circuit panel questioned Comcast’s attorney, but at times the three judges seemed to agree with him or prod him to sharpen his points. On the other hand, the judges repeatedly pushed back against the arguments of the FCC and Tennis Channel attorneys, going way over the allotted time for each.” Stifel noted that a ruling is expected in the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals on Time Warner Cable’s lawsuit against the commission’s revamped program access rules, on which oral argument was heard in October (CD Oct 9 p5). “There’s a good chance the court will throw out” the 2011 program access order giving continued carriage of cable-operator affiliated networks to multichannel video programming distributors while the MVPD’s complaint over a network’s withholding is pending, the analysts wrote. They said the 2nd Circuit could also “reverse or remand other parts of the FCC order."