MB Docket No. ) File. No CSR- -P WAVEDIVISION HOLDINGS, LLC ) ASTOUND BROADBAND, LLC ) EXPEDITED TREATMENT ) REQUESTED Petitioners, ) ) V
Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, DC 20554 ) In the Matter of: ) ) MB Docket No. ) File. No CSR- -P WAVEDIVISION HOLDINGS, LLC ) ASTOUND BROADBAND, LLC ) EXPEDITED TREATMENT ) REQUESTED Petitioners, ) ) v. ) ) COMCAST SPORTSCHANNEL PACIFIC ) ASSOCIATES ) COMCAST SPORTSNET CALIFORNIA, LLC ) COMCAST SPORTSNET NORTHWEST, LLC) NBCUNIVERSAL MEDIA, LLC ) ) Respondent Programmers ) ) TO THE COMMISSION: PETITION FOR DECLARATORY RULING THAT CONDUCT VIOLATES 47 U.S.C. § 548(b) James A. Penney Eric Breisach General Counsel WaveDivision Holdings, LLC Breisach Cordell PLLC 401 Parkplace Center, Suite 500 5335 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Suite 440 Kirkland, WA 98033 Washington, DC 20015 (425) 896-1891 (202) 751-2701 Its Attorneys Date: December 19, 2017 SUMMARY This Petition is about the conduct of three Comcast-owned regional sports networks whose deliberate actions undermined the fundamental structure of their distribution agreements with a cable operator and then, when the operator could no longer meet minimum contractual penetration percentages, presented the operator with a Hobson’s choice: (1) restructure its services through a forced bundling scheme in a way that would make them commercially and competitively unviable; or (2) face shut-off of the services four days later. These efforts to hinder significantly or prevent the operator from providing this programming are not only prohibited by 47 U.S.C. 548(b), but are particularly egregious because they are taken against the only terrestrial competitor to Comcast’s cable systems in the areas served by the cable operator. It was only after the Comcast regional sports networks extracted a payment of approximately $2.4 million and a promise to pay even more on an ongoing basis – amounts far in excess of what would have been required by the distribution agreements, was the imminent threat to withhold the services withdrawn.
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