The Federal Communications Commission has ordered an administrative trial to hear the Tennis Channel’s complaint that Comcast is preventing wider distribution.
In announcing the trial, the FCC’s Media Bureau agreed the Tennis Channel had demonstrated sufficient prima facie evidence to warrant a hearing about whether Comcast was violating an FCC rule.
On Comcast systems, the Tennis Channel appears on a premium sports tier that costs extra and has been trying without success to get greater distribution.
It complained to the FCC that Comcast has made its own sports channels, among them the Golf Channel and Versus, widely available but has refused to do the same for the Tennis Channel.
The move could have reverberations in the FCC’s review of Comcast’s deal for NBC Universal.
