Sky Angel Files Program Access Complaint Against Discovery

IPTV distributor says company plans to terminate agreement years early

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/9/2010 2:40:33 PM

IPTV distributor Sky Angel has filed both a program access complaint at the FCC and also asked for a standstill order on its current contract.

According to Sky Angel, Discovery plans to terminate its agreement with the distributor more than four years early, and within the next two weeks.

Sky Angel says Discovery has notified it that the existing affiliation agreement would terminate Apr. 22, 2010 rather than the current Dec. 31, 2014, citing concerns about the way the programming is being delivered, though without elaboration.

Sky Angel says the move would discriminate against it in favor of other distributors, like Time Warner and Comcast, who deliver Discovery programming over the 'net. "Discovery's threatened unfair method of competition and unfair acts are designed to hinder Sky Angel's continued growth and the possibility that Sky Angel emerges as a viable competitor to the now-dominant cable and satellite MVPDs.

Sky Angel wants the commission to prevent Discovery from pulling the plug until the complaint has been resolved, saying that it could suffer irreparable harm if the commission does not, and pointing out that the Apr. 22 date is long before any pleading cycle could be completed on the complaint, which was filed March 24.

Sky Angel migrated from satellite delivery to a pure-play Internet video distributor a couple of years back.

Sky Channel says Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, the Military Channel, and more of the programmers offerings are "among the most popular" on the service and are thus "must-have" programming.

Discovery had no comment on the filings.