Comcast Settles Carriage Case with MASN
Comcast stands to have two fewer FCC proceedings against it. One was dismissed by a commission judge after it was settled, and the company reached an agreement in principle to end the other, filings Tuesday and Wednesday show. After months of on-again, off-again talks about expanding the distribution of the channel carrying Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles baseball games (CD Aug 3 p6), the cable operator and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network reached a deal. About 24 hours after both the companies filed a request to dismiss the case with the administrative law judge hearing it, he obliged.
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Separately, Comcast told the FCC it had reached a tentative deal with Michigan cable-franchising authorities that had sued the company and filed a petition against it at the commission over the company’s handling of public, educational and government channels. Comcast and the cities of Bloomfield, Dearborn, Meridian and Warren “believe they have reached a complete settlement of this case,” they said in a filing in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The judge referred the dispute to the commission but continued monitoring it. Some of the cities later petitioned the FCC to act. But the commissioners held off while the cities and Comcast negotiated a settlement (CD Nov 24 p6).
“We have worked diligently with the four communities to resolve the dispute,” a Comcast spokeswoman said. Carrying out the agreement in principle would “end the litigation,” she added. It’s now “subject to the formal approval of each of the communities.” A lawyer for Dearborn, the lead petitioner at the FCC, didn’t reply to a message seeking comment. The spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the cities will withdraw their petition.
Comcast and MASN resolved their carriage dispute Tuesday, they told the commission. The sports channel had sought extended distribution to the company’s video subscribers in Harrisburg, Pa., and, in Virginia, Lynchburg, Roanoke and several other cities. MASN is already distributed by Comcast in the Washington area. Representatives of the sides declined to elaborate on the agreement.
Some Comcast subscribers who couldn’t previously watch games on MASN “will get to see Nationals and Orioles games on a nightly basis as early as 2010,” attorney David Fredrick of Kellogg Huber, representing the channel, said in a written statement. Chief FCC Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel, who had urged the sides to settle, on Wednesday ordered the case dismissed with prejudice. The Enforcement Bureau, which observed hearings before Sippel in the case, had no objection, he wrote.