FCC: Comcast should adhere to Tennis ruling

The FCC's enforcement bureau states Comcast ought to be purchased to comply "immediately" having a ruling the cable operator place Tennis Funnel on equal footing in the selection with channels that includes a stake, such as the Golf Funnel and Versus. Recently, an administrative law judge ruled that Comcast had violated program carriage rules if this declined to put Tennis Funnel ready much like individuals of sport shows it is the owner of. Tennis Funnel contended that it is positioning cost it advertising revenue, which it had been put into upper tiers despite the fact that its rankings consistently beat individuals from the Comcast-affiliated systems. Following the ruling, Comcast contended it weren't required to comply until its appeals fully FCC and also to a legal court of Appeals were exhausted. However in comments launched Thursday, the FCC's enforcement bureau stated that carriage laws and regulations "unambiguously" reveal that orders from administrative law idol judges work "upon release" from the ruling. Their surveys are recommendations fully commission. During the time of Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel's ruling recently, Comcast stated it "has got the contractual to distribute Tennis Funnel because it does presently, and Comcast firmly thinks the exercise of this to minimize costs to customers isn't discrimination." After Comcast's merger with NBC Universal, it renamed Versus as NBC Sports Network. Tennis Funnel stated inside a statement that "the guidelines are obvious that Comcast now needs to provide us with exactly the same carriage it gives to the own Golf Funnel and also the NBC Sports Network." Contact Ted Manley at ted.manley@variety.com