DIRECTV on the Deal
In a letter to the FCC posted yesterday, DIRECTV argues against Comcast's contention that national cable nets should not be made subject to pro-competitive arbitration safeguards. Says the DBS provider, Comcast cherry-picked its cases to claim that the Commission has previously excluded such programming from arbitration rules. To the contrary, says the El Segundo bunch, "The Commission has found that national programming can be used to disadvantage rivals just like other 'must have' regional sports network programming.
Meanwhile, Comcast VP of Regulatory and State Legislative Affairs Kathy Zachem went to the FCC to emphasize "that the weight of the economic and factual evidence ... compels the exclusion of national cable networks" from any program access arbitration remedy."
In short, we're down to dueling specifics on the access arbitration question.
|