If Tennis Channel is able to fend off cable giant Comcast's appeal of an Federal Communications Commission (FCC) judge’s decision to force it to place it on a similar basic tier to Golf Channel and Versus, it could mean million of new subscribers for the network.
On Tuesday, Tennis Channel won its carriage complaint hearing against Comcast, when FCC Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel ordered Comcast to discontinue its practice of discriminating against Tennis Channel in favor of its wholly owned, competing sports networks Golf Channel and Versus (which will be renamed NBC Sports Network at the start of 2012). The order requires Comcast to carry Tennis Channel at the same level of distribution that it provides to these networks, with a limited exception for analog systems.
The FCC's order directs Comcast to "proceed as soon as practicable with remediation."
However, Comcast says will appeal the decision both to the full FCC commission and to a U.S. appeal courts if necessary,
But if Tennis Channel ends up winning the dispute, it would put the network in much better shape.
It currently has about 30 million subscribers, a number that includes 2.7 million with Comcast. The network's total if it is placed on a basic tier on Comcast would grow to somewhere around 50 million, which would likely result in a major increase to its advertising revenue.
Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon is hoping that Comcast will immediately switch it to a more basic tier, but Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice told Multichannel News: "The ruling issued today is only an initial decision, and is subject to further review by the full Commission and then, if needed, the U.S. Court of Appeals. We believe it is wrong for Tennis Channel to use the government to impose higher costs and prices on private enterprise and consumers and we look forward to the review process."
Fitzmaurice also mentioned that "many other companies with no ownership interest in Tennis Channel" having made similar decisions, possibly a reference to Cablevision and Verizon, both which dropped Tennis Channel during the 2011 U.S. Open in disputes as to which tiers it should be on.
A source told TENNIS.com that while negotiations with Verizon are continuing in a positive fashion and that it’s possible that a new deal could be struck sometime early in 2012, it is also possible that Verizon subscribers will not be able to see the network’s coverage of the 2012 Australian Open.
Cablevision, which has a substantial hold on the Northeastern corridor, is still playing hard ball with Tennis Channel and it’s highly unlikely that a deal will be struck between the two anytime soon.
The FCC judge's decision could open the door for other channels to challenge Comcast and Bloomberg TV has already stated the decision could effect its complaint against Comcast, where it alleges that the cable giant is also discriminating against independent news channels. — Matt Cronin