NFL Net Files FCC Complaint Against Comcast For Discrimination
NFL Network yesterday filed a carriage complaint with the FCC against Comcast for what the net calls the MSO's anti-consumer and anti-competitive treatment of NFL Network. The complaint focuses on Comcast's discriminatory treatment of NFL Net compared to national sports nets that Comcast owns. The complaint alleges that Comcast uniformly carries Comcast-owned sports nets on a widely-distributed basic tier, while relegating NFL Net to a subscriber-based sports tier which requires additional fees. The complaint also states that the discriminatory treatment of NFL Net is a violation of the 1992 Cable Act. The complaint alleges Comcast is retaliating against NFL Net because the NFL did not sell an annual package of eight regular-season games to a Comcast-owned sports net (NFL). Comcast Senior Dir of Corporate Communications & Government Affairs Sena Fitzmaurice said in a statement, "Comcast makes the NFL Network available to all of our customers on a tier of service that the NFL agreed to by contract. The NFL ... keeps running to the federal and state governments to try to force changes in the deal it freely accepted in negotiations with Comcast" (Comcast). Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, in a declaration attached to the complaint, said that the NFL "refused to license the eight-game package to Comcast several months before he resigned" in '06. Tagliabue said that after Comcast learned of the decision, Comcast Chair & CEO Brian Roberts said, "'Your relationships with the cable industry are going to get very interesting.'" Tagliabue: "I believe that Mr. Roberts' statement foreshadowed Comcast's retaliation against the (NFL) for the league's refusal to license the eight-game package to Comcast" (MULTICHANNELNEWS.com, 5/6).
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