The Supreme Court says it will not review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals that overturned an FCC ruling in 2012 which ordered Comcast to take Tennis Channel off its sports tier and place it on the same level of programming as the Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network (both owned by Comcast). Had Comcast been ordered to, it would have meant millions more dollars in cable fees for Tennis Channel.
The appeals court ruled that the FCC offered no substantial evidence to refute Comcast’s position that it made a financial judgment about its cable offerings to subscribers, and it was not trying to discriminate against the Tennis Channel.
Tennis Channel said in a statement that it is disappointed by the decision but still has “a number of available options” to revive its case. The Supreme Court offered no comment.
“We are pleased that finding by the lower court that Comcast did not discriminate against Tennis Channel will stand,” Comcast said in statement. “We continue to make Tennis Channel available to tennis fans across the country in terms with our longstanding contract.”
Comcast has 21 million subscribers and is planning to buy Time Warner Cable in a deal that would combine the two largest U.S. cable companies. Time Warner also carries Tennis Channel.