Decision on Sportsnet Philadelphia Due this Week

[SunMo]

ha, really.  it's not like that's the FCC's job or anything.

[Seabiscuit36]

Consumer Watch: Why did FCC fail local sports fans?By Jeff Gelles
Inquirer Columnist
Washington consumers had a problem, and the federal government addressed it. Philadelphia consumers had a problem, and the government - at all levels - failed them.

That sums up one of the most bizarre government decisions you'll ever see: The Federal Communications Commission's July 13 approval, with conditions, of Comcast and Time Warner's bid for bankrupt Adelphia Communications.

Not that the approval itself was bizarre. Everyone agrees that Adelphia customers deserve a cable company with a pulse.

No, the bizarre part came in the conditions devised by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin - in particular, in two conditions stirred by Comcast's willingness to throw its weight around at the expense of sports fans, as the cable industry has a long and unfortunate history of doing.

In one, the FCC is forcing settlement of a financial dispute that has led Comcast to refuse to carry the Washington Nationals' baseball channel on its Washington-area systems.

Customers squawked, and public officials listened. At least three area representatives complained to the FCC and to fellow lawmakers. The result: As a condition of the Adelphia deal, Comcast will have to accept arbitration to settle the Nationals dispute and similar cases.

Tale of another city

The FCC's logic took its strange twist when it came to Philadelphia's longer-running dispute over sports.

It made Comcast agree to share its local sports channels with competitors. But the condition exempts the Philadelphia market - the only place where either company actually withholds local sports, as Comcast does by refusing to share SportsNet with DirecTV and Dish Network.

Why did the FCC fix one city's problem and punt on the other?

Washington consumers certainly don't suffer more harm - they don't even suffer as much. The Nats' Mid-Atlantic Sports Network is available from the satellites and from RCN Corp., whose cable service competes with Comcast's in some parts of Washington.

Here, fans know that if they switch to satellite, they'll miss most of the Phillies, Sixers and Flyers. Comcast's practice robs them of consumer choice.

Nor did Comcast win on legal points. The FCC's Adelphia decision closes the loophole that Comcast has relied on to keep SportsNet to itself. Except in Philadelphia.

Leadership counts

So if those factors don't explain why Comcast got a pass here, what does?

One answer is that Comcast showed a willingness to compromise, but perhaps only so far, as regulators and lawmakers have questioned its use of local sports as leverage over competitors.

Comcast officials suggested that they had no intention of extending their Philadelphia practices elsewhere. At the same time, they urged the FCC and Congress to keep their hands off the Philadelphia market.

If Comcast was persuasive, it owes a special debt to Philadelphia area officials so enthralled at Comcast that they wink at its heavy-handed behavior.

Consumers gripe about the SportsNet loophole. So do bloggers, media-rights advocates, and the occasional columnist. But unlike the Washington officials who challenged Comcast's refusal to carry the Nationals, this region's politicians have been shamefully mute.

Only one councilman, Michael Nutter, even mentioned the issue at City Council's lone hearing on the Adelphia deal.

It doesn't hurt that, like most regulated businesses, Comcast knows how to work the levers of government, such as by hiring former officials as lobbyists. But it's hard to blame David L. Cohen or anyone at Comcast for our current political leaders' failure to cry foul.

The FCC's decision was a slap in the face to Philadelphia. It identified a practice that harms consumers, and barred it everywhere else. Yet its message to Comcast was: You own Philadelphia. Do what you please.

The first step toward solving a problem is recognizing that you have one. Right now, the message from our leaders is that everything is Comcastic.

•

I'm on leave starting this week, and Consumer Watch will be on hiatus until I return. Until then, you can find useful tools, links, advice and other information on my blog: http://go.philly.com/consumerwatch.

From todays inky

[ice grillin you]

It made Comcast agree to share its local sports channels with competitors. But the condition exempts the Philadelphia market - the only place where either company actually withholds local sports, as Comcast does by refusing to share SportsNet with DirecTV and Dish Network.

i must be crazy because again this sounds like to me that if youre outside the philly market you can get csn philly on your dish

no??

[Wingspan]

no

[ice grillin you]

It made Comcast agree to share its local sports channels with competitors. But the condition exempts the Philadelphia market

at least this time you have to admit that the author is wrong and im not reading it incorrectly

[SunMo]

i think the author means, for example, that Comcast has to share SportsNet Chicago with satellite companies in the Chicago area.

[ice grillin you]

then he should have said it exempts csn philly the station not the philly market...as that makes it sound as tho you can get csn philly if youre outside the philly market

[QB Eagles]

Comcast gets anything they want with respect to Philadelphia because they have Philly politicians (and I include Rendell in that) by the balls. Philadelphia isn't exactly the most business-friendly city and without piles of favors it would leave town, taking away thousands of jobs and leaving that enormous Comcast Death Star they are building in the city without its major tenant.

I've got Adelphia now and I'll be one of the souls switching over to Comcast whenever that goes down. I've dealt with Comcast before, and frankly both cable companies lick taint, particularly in the cost department. Such is the nature of local monopolies, however -- nasty inefficient creatures that can only exist with the cooperation of local governments. I doubt true cable competition will be allowed in Philadelphia anytime this millenium due to the presence of a cable company worth more money than most countries. I'm more optimistic about things out here in Pittsburgh, but I'm not holding my breath.

In my opinion the FCC's job should be keeping frequencies from overlapping, and that's it. Even leaving them with that is arguable, honestly. Everything else they do has the stench of corruption and state censorship. Asking them to fight against Comcast for you is like asking al Qaeda to come in and protect you from the bullies at school.

[The BIGSTUD]

For the last year I've really started to get tired of Comcast and their BS. Well yesterday put me over the top. I'm trying to find a movie to watch at 3:30 am before I pass out, and I'm scrolling through the HBO and Encore channels, and I'm like wait a second, how come I blew through them so fast? In my area HBO channels are 300-311(311 is spanish) and Encore is 150-160. Well Comcast removed 307, 308, and 309 from the HBO listings, and all the odd numbers from the Encore listings. So for Encore 151, 153, 155, 157, 159 are gone.

I called Comcast to find out what the hell happened to the channels, and the lady said they removed them because they were pointless. She said all those channels did was show the same movies again a few hours later. I said exactly. If I pop on the TV and a movie that I'm interested in is halfway over, I can tune back in 2 hours later and catch the whole thing or set Tivo to record it. As to what they replaced those channels with? The travel channel, the homework help channel...

farg Comcast.

[Wingspan]

so you cancelled comcast cable then?

[The BIGSTUD]

Monopolies own me.

[Wingspan]

you really did finally go over the top then

[The BIGSTUD]

Enough to complain about it here. Sounds pretty over the top to me.

[Wingspan]

it's been four years since i gave a dime to comcast, and i can't say i miss it much.

[General_Failure]

If I could get DSL here I wouldn't have comcast at all. Right now, they're only raping me for internet access.