Station Groups Not Disputing Complaint Facts, AT&T Says
AT&T's good-faith rules violation complaint isn't against nine small, isolated broadcast station groups as defendants portray (see 1908070046), but against Sinclair-managed and -controlled entities that refused to negotiate, an unfair advantage, said the MVPD in a heavily redacted FCC docket…
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19-168 reply Monday. It said the station groups "do not even seriously dispute" they refused to negotiate or respond to proposals. Defendants' outside counsel, Marc Martin of Perkins Coie, emailed that AT&T's argument they refused to negotiate "is baseless." To "the contrary, the station groups retained a respected negotiator who followed a negotiating process that AT&T agreed to follow," he said. "AT&T is simply trying to use the FCC complaint process to bully these station groups into business concessions that AT&T can’t get at the negotiating table." Sinclair says it provides services to the station groups but isn't part of their retransmission consent negotiations.