Massillon-FSN Ohio Dispute Free To Move To Arbitration

In a “preliminary victory for small cable operators,” an arbitrator ruled that a contract dispute between Massillon Cable and FSN Ohio “should proceed to arbitration under conditions set on News Corp. as part of its DirecTV acquisition,” according to Linda Moss of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. The conditions — known as the Fox-Hughes order — “gave distributors the option of submitting carriage disputes regarding News Corp.-owned RSNs to arbitration.” Massillon attorney Mark Palchick said, “Fox has argued that the scope of the Fox-Hughes order is very, very limited. This says no: Where there is a dispute over price terms and conditions between a cable operator and [an RSN], you have this remedy, because Fox as a matter of law has undue market power.” Moss reported News Corp.’s Fox Cable “moved to dismiss the arbitration, claiming that a midterm contract dispute was not subject to arbitration.” Massillon, which has more than 45,000 subs in Ohio — last year wanted FSN Ohio to adjust its license fee after the net lost carriage of Indians games to SportsTime Ohio. Moss noted FSN Ohio “paid heavily” to extend a TV-rights deal with the Cavaliers after it lost the Indians games (MULTICHANNEL.com, 5/3).