Comcast On Program Access Decision: We Will Not Appeal

Company won't challenge Friday's court ruling

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/12/2010 3:17:18 PM

Comcast will not challenge the March 12 D.C. Circuit court decision upholding the FCC's program access rules.

"We will not appeal," said a Comcast spokeswoman.

Cablevision, which also challenged the prohibition on exclusive contracts for programming in which a cable operator has a financial interest, said Friday it is considering its options. That would include appealing the 2-1 decision to the full court. The dissenting judge said he thought the rule should have been thrown out as discriminatory and a violation of the First Amendment.

But Comcast has been trying to craft voluntary conditions on its proposed joint venture with NBCU to make it more palatable in Washington. That has included accepting program access condition even if the court overturned them.

But in the ruling Friday, a federal appeals court in Washington said the FCC had sufficiently justified its decision that the marketplace was not sufficiently competitive to warrant lifting the prohibition. But it also said the marketplace seemed to be changing rapidly enough that by 2012, when the rules are set to expire, they will likely no longer be needed.