Viamedia Seeks Reversal of Comcast Ad Sales Antitrust Complaint Dismissal
Viamedia's complaint Comcast used market dominance in Detroit and Chicago to force the competing third-party advertising rep out of business there fits into the class of cases requiring a monopolist show its refusal to deal with a competitor-customer was motivated…
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by legitimate competitive reasons, Viamedia said in its redacted appellant brief (in Pacer, docket 18-2852) filed Thursday with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It said it's a Sherman Act violation to deny a rival something voluntarily provided others and sacrifice short-term profit to achieve long-term monopoly. Viamedia said the lower court that rejected its complaint against Comcast (see 1808210001) erred when it agreed ad rep services and collective ad selling "interconnect" services are separate, but then said jurors likely wouldn't find Comcast tied those services together even though evidence showed otherwise. Comcast didn't comment Friday.