Vermont PUC Seeks to Partly Dismiss Comcast Complaint
The Vermont Public Utilities Commission asked to dismiss several counts in Comcast’s complaint in the U.S. District Court in Rutland, Vermont. In an Aug. 28 complaint (in Pacer), Comcast said the PUC exceeded authority under state and federal law by…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
requiring the company in a cable franchise agreement to construct 550 miles of new cable lines and to enhance support for public, educational and government channels. “Comcast’s state-law claims are clearly barred by the Eleventh Amendment, notwithstanding the supplemental jurisdiction statute, and this Court has no subject matter jurisdiction to consider them,” the agency said in Monday's motion (in Pacer). The commission disagreed the deployment requirement violated the First Amendment. “Comcast’s claim that the VPUC’s line extension condition impermissibly burdens its free speech rights by allegedly making cable services more expensive fails to state a claim for violation of the First Amendment and should be dismissed,” the commission said. Comcast is reviewing the Vermont motion, which "involves only a subset of issues in the appeal," a Comcast spokeswoman said: "The Vermont PUC is looking to mandate requirements that are contrary to federal law and, further, are not imposed on any other competitor in the state of Vermont. Such mandates would cost millions of dollars, place discriminatory burdens on Comcast and its customers, and arbitrarily increase their costs for cable service."