Sports Fan Coalition, Public Knowledge Urge FCC Review of beIN Complaint
FCC Media Bureau rejection of beIN Sports' Comcast carriage complaint (see 1907020056) paves the path to distributors dropping unaffiliated networks willy-nilly and leaves customers defenseless, the Sports Fan Coalition said in a docket 18-384 filing Monday. It makes vertically integrated…
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companies like Comcast both "referee and player in its own game," SFC said. It said even if an indie programmer can match bids of cable-owned sports programmers for sports rights, the programmer has the advantage by being able to offer better distribution, promotion and other treatment of its programming service. Also backing beIN's petition asking the agency to review the bureau order, Public Knowledge said discrimination against indie programmers by vertically integrated cable operators, a focus of the 1992 Cable Act, is an increasingly pressing issue due to consolidation. It said the bureau shouldn't have denied beIN's case before it was allowed to engage in discovery and make a case accordingly. BeIN said the bureau has never found a complainant made a prima facie case and then immediately denied the complaint, and its resolving the proceeding without a hearing while agreeing with the complainant’s prima facie case "is arbitrary and capricious." Comcast didn't comment Tuesday.