Starz Petition to End Blackout 'Fundamentally Flawed,' Altice USA Says
Any FCC order making Altice USA reinstate Starz would be confusing to consumers and hurt the MVPD and the programmers it added as replacements, Altice said in a docket 18-9 opposition posted Tuesday. Calling Starz's petition for declaratory ruling and…
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enforcement order an attempt at using the regulatory process to get carriage, Altice said the petition uses "a fundamentally flawed argument" that the operator should have given customers notice on Dec. 1 it planned to drop the programmer when Altice didn't intend to do so and continued to work on a deal through Dec. 31, when the existing carriage agreement expired. It's common in the industry for deals to be struck on the eve of expiration, and "no rational cable operator" would conclude on Dec. 1 that Altice's Starz agreement wouldn't be renewed, it said. It said Starz never offered a 30-day extension that would have let Altice give prior notice. The MVPD said the programmer lacks standing to invoke customer service rules and the petition ignores that Altice notified subscribers as soon as possible about service changes after it lost the right to carry the programs. Starz -- which didn't comment Tuesday -- argued the FCC should order Altice to reinstate it on the same terms as before the Jan. 1 blackout, pending final determination of its complaint (see 1801190042).