AT&T, Stations Clash Over Retrans Loss' Impact on Good Faith Appeal
AT&T and a group of Sinclair broadcast sidecars disagree on the effect U.S. District Court dismissal of a the telco's complaint against a negotiator handling retransmission consent talks for a group of the sidecar stations has on the broadcasters' appeal…
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of an FCC ruling they violated good-faith rules. AT&T had claimed breach of contract and a trade secrets violation (see 2001170038). The court decision "actually reinforces the core, undisputed fact supporting those violations" that no single offer made to AT&T would have resulted in carriage of the stations, the MVPD said in a docket 19-168 filing posted Friday. It said the court order was incorrect, but it doesn't touch on the central issue of whether the sidecars violated their good-faith negotiation obligations. No, the court decision that the sidecars were part of a single joint negotiation "fatally undermines the central premise" of the Media Bureau order, the stations said.