The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit has signaled
it is at least contemplating holding a full-court hearing on the Tennis Channel
case.
In May, a three-judge panel of the court unanimously ruled
that Comcast did not violate the FCC's program carriage rules or discriminate
against Tennis Channel for anticompetitive reasons by keeping Tennis Channel on
a sports tier -- per a longstanding contract -- rather than the more widely
viewed tier placement Tennis had sought.
In an order issued Tuesday on its own motion, the court gave
Comcast 15 days to respond to TennisChannel's petition for a full-court review of that panel decision.
Tennis Channel may or may not get to respond to that filing.
"Absent further order of the court, the court will not accept a reply to
the response," the court said.
A veteran attorney following the case called it
a "promising sign" for Tennis Channel, but still "a long
shot."
