WHDH Appealing Dismissal of NBC Affiliation Suit Against Comcast
WHDH Boston is taking the dismissal of its lawsuit against Comcast to the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, it said in a notice of appeal (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston. In its original complaint, WHDH…
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claimed Comcast violated an agreement with NBC affiliates made as part of Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal by planning to switch the NBC affiliation from WHDH to an owned-and-operated station (see 1603110031). In his order (in Pacer) to dismiss the suit issued in May, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns of Boston said WHDH lacked standing to enforce sections of the NBC TV Affiliates Association, and nothing in the affiliates' contract imposes an affirmative obligation on the cable company to negotiate with affiliate stations. He said he also agreed with Comcast's argument that refusing to engage in renewal negotiations doesn't generally amount to monopolistic exclusionary conduct, as WHDH argued. The station argued Comcast's newly owned and operated station will be less successful than WHDH, but at least in the near term "it is a deep-dyed canon of antitrust law that the supplier of a product may vertically integrate its distribution channels without facing liability," Stearns said. Comcast didn't comment Wednesday.