Media Companies Objecting to Viacom Discovery in Cablevision Bundling Suit
Numerous media companies hope to block Viacom's attempts to get program distribution agreements (PDAs) with Cablevision. In an order filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cott approved a motion by content providers including CBS,…
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Discovery Communications, ESPN and HBO, allowing them to intervene in Cablevision's 2013 lawsuit against Viacom for allegedly forcing the cable company to carry ancillary networks in order to obtain such core networks as MTV and Nickelodeon (see 1302280044). Viacom filed a motion earlier this month asking the court to compel Cablevision to provide PDAs spelling out pricing and other carriage commitment details. In their motion last week seeking the right to intervene and also opposing the Viacom motion, the content companies argued that the information Viacom is seeking in its discovery requests "is neither relevant nor necessary" and producing the information raises confidentiality issues. "Viacom has not demonstrated that it is entitled to intrusive, far-reaching discovery" of Cablevision carriage agreements, the media companies said.