In Denver, Kyle Fredrickson notes Comcast has "pushed back on Altitude Sports' lawsuit against the cable giant for alleged violations of federal antitrust laws," filing motions to "dismiss the case and a stay for discovery to delay disclosing evidence." Altitude, blacked out from Comcast since August in "stalled negotiations for carriage rights, filed its lawsuit in November." Altitude alleges Comcast "aims to eventually 'monopolize' sports programming in Denver." Comcast this week argued that Altitude's "aggressive discovery requests -- 25 fact witnesses and 55 documents per side -- are an effort to leverage carriage rights negotiations moving forward" (DENVER POST, 1/16).
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Viewers should not expect sports programming to be a focus when NBCUniversal unveils its Peacock streaming service to investors today in N.Y. Look for Peacock to spend part of its investor conference hyping Olympic programming around this summer's Tokyo Games on NBC, though the service is not expected to carry any live events. And do not expect Peacock to stream anything from NBC's live sports schedule (John Ourand, SBJ Media).
GOING BIG: In Boston, Jon Chesto notes NBCUniversal has "wrapped up construction" on its $125M complex in Needham, Mass., where it is "consolidating its four Boston-area stations under one roof," including NBC Sports Boston, which is relocating from Burlington. Execs at NBC said that the new complex will be the "largest broadcast newsroom in the Boston market, if not New England" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/16).
