Former Cablevision CEO James Dolan will pay a $609,810 fine for failing to report in a timely manner his acquisition of voting securities in Madison Square Garden Co. (MSG), where he's executive chairman, the FTC said Thursday. In a complaint filed Thursday with U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, DOJ said Dolan had violated Hart-Scott-Rodino Act reporting requirements in the past and that he did so again in 2017 when he acquired 591 shares through vested restricted stock units but didn't file the required, timely paperwork. Justice said the complaint and accompanying proposed settlement, subject to court approval, come at the FTC's request. "Any shareholder whose stockholdings exceed certain thresholds is required to make an HSR filing," MSG emailed. "Debevoise & Plimpton is the law firm responsible for making timely HSR filings relating to Jim Dolan’s MSG stock. Debevoise inadvertently missed a required HSR filing deadline, for a second time, which resulted in a fine by the FTC. Debevoise agreed to pay the fine as a result of their mistake.”
Massachusetts state lawmakers and officials are lobbying against the Further NPRM that would treat cable operators' in-kind contributions required by local franchise authorities as franchise fees subject to a cap (see 1811150027), with a set of similarly worded docket 05-311 filings posted Thursday. The FCC "lacks authority to impair private franchise contracts Section 622 of the Cable Act defines 'franchise fees' " and hasn't the right to redefine, State Rep. William Galvin, D-Avon, said in a typical letter.
Comcast and Charter Communications seek rehearings en banc by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of decisions last month allowing claims of discrimination in their programming choices to go forward (see 1811190023). Comcast in a docket 16-56479 petition (in Pacer) Monday said the 9th Circuit's interpretation of Civil Rights Act Section 1981 warrants rehearing en banc because it conflicts with other circuit courts, including the Supreme Court. Charter, in a similar petition (in Pacer) in docket 17-55723, called it "a textbook case for rehearing en banc" by deviating from Supreme Court precedent. Counsel for appellants Entertainment Studios Networks and the National Association of African American Owned Media didn't comment.
Cable subscriptions can't sustain going up $2 a year to cover increasingly expensive sports programming costs, given the growth of cord cutting in response, CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson blogged Wednesday. He said Amazon -- reportedly bidding for regional sports network being sold in Disney buying some Fox assets -- or another party is likely to change the paradigm by selling content by the game. Amazon didn't comment.
Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable's argument that DirecTV Now doesn't offer channels of service and its service isn't comparable to Charter Communications' cable as effective competition with Charter Communications (see 1810260026) is a " 'gotcha' argument [that] is too clever by half," NCTA said in a docket 18-283 posting Monday. It said no statutory definition or policy rationale MDTC cited applies to the LEC test, and that statutory test doesn't include the word "channel" but instead looks at comparable video programming service issues. Congress said an LEC-owned service offering comparable video service would exempt cable systems from rate regulation, and DirecTV Now obviously fits that bill, it said. Charter seeks a determination of effective competition in Massachusetts and Hawaii based on AT&T's DirecTV Now virtual MVPD (see 1809170020).
The Supreme Court wants careful adherence to the “state action” doctrine, which separates purely private conduct from governmental action, but the 2nd U.S Circuit Court of Appeals "did not adhere -- let alone carefully," said Manhattan Community Access, aka Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), in a Supreme Court docket 17-1702 petitioner brief Tuesday. It said a 2nd Circuit decision earlier this year should be reversed since respondents haven't alleged MNN is a state actor under any Supreme Court tests for holding a private entity subject to the First Amendment. It said the 2nd Circuit's analysis on the pleadings "flies in the face of Supreme Court precedent" by determining public access channels are a constitutional public forum and thus its operators are state actors. Respondents didn't comment. The 2nd Circuit reversed a lower court dismissal of a suit brought by two public access content producers suing MNN and staffers for First Amendment violations after they were banned from MNN facilities. The appellate court concluded public access channels are public forums and MNN a state actor since it was designated by the Manhattan borough president to run the public access channels there (see 1810170027).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is allotting a group of antitrust scholars, as amici curiae, 10 minutes for oral argument Thursday in the DOJ's appeal of a lower court's allowing AT&T's buy of Time Warner, said a docket 18-5214 order (in Pacer) posted Friday. Their participation was supported by Justice and opposed by appellee AT&T (see 1811260029). Appellant DOJ will get 20 minutes, and AT&T has 30 minutes, which it can share with supporting amici curiae, the court said. Separately, antitrust lawyer Joseph Alioto moved Saturday (see here, in Pacer) to file an amicus brief supporting DOJ, arguing that Supreme Court precedent established the Clayton Act prohibits acquisition of a significant rival in an industry trending toward concentration, so there needs to be immediate divestiture by TW. Alioto said by buying content company TW, AT&T is opting not to make investments in content it had planned to do before the deal, so AT&T is eliminated as a potential competitor in the content market. He said AT&T has started to pass on acquisition debt to consumers through increased prices. Alioto said his brief isn't opposed by DOJ but opposed by AT&T.
Anyone seeking to operate an open video system should electronically submit certification applications, including FCC Form 1275 and all attachments, as well as OVS notices of intent, said a Media Bureau public notice Friday. The electronic filing requirement, replacing paper filing, is in effect, after the agency adopted new rules in October (see 1810250020), it said.
Comcast said the FCC should balance "the granularity, accuracy and timeliness" of broadband and voice service deployment data it collects from industry Form 477 filings. The company cited challenges to "submitting address-level information and indicated that data could not be provided in that format in an accurate or timely fashion," in a meeting with aides to all commissioner offices, posted Thursday in docket 11-10. "Initiate a pilot program to explore the feasibility of submitting deployment data at the road/street segment level. This approach would provide the Commission with much more granular data than it obtains today and also could be prepared and submitted by service providers relatively quickly." AT&T proposes an address-based approach (see 1810160017).
Legal challenges to Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal are weaker than in 2011, Free State Foundation academic adviser Ted Bolema wrote Thursday. Comcast has less leverage over rivals now as consumer choices expand and cord cutting accelerates. DOJ options are limited by agency skepticism of behavioral conditions, and action could lend credence to claims it's acting under pressure from President Donald Trump, Bolema said. The department didn't comment.