n*********e
发帖数: 25274 | 1 美国网球玩完了。。。
Comcast Corp., CMCSA -1.92%the country's largest cable provider, has no
obligation to distribute the independently owned Tennis Channel as widely as
its own niche sports networks, a federal appeals court said, striking a
blow against smaller cable channels hunting for viewers.
The Tuesday ruling by a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit suggests that upstart channels must clear a
high bar to force pay-TV providers to carry them. The judges said the
Tennis Channel failed to demonstrate that Comcast didn't have legitimate
business reasons for relegating the channel to a lesser tier.
The court's decision comes as rising programming costs are prompting
operators such as Time Warner Cable Inc. TWC -1.42%and DirecTV DTV -3.03%to
take a harder line against including such channels in their lineups.
Tennis Channel, which is currently offering wall-to-wall coverage of the
French Open, argued that Comcast should be required to give it the same
treatment in terms of distribution as the Golf Channel and NBC Sports
Network, both of which are owned by Comcast.
Federal Communications Commission regulations say that pay-TV firms can't
discriminate against independently owned channels by refusing to carry them
or relegating them to little-watched programming packages.
Comcast carries Tennis Channel on its sports tier, which gives viewers an
extra 10 to 15 sports channels for $8 or less a month. The Golf Channel and
NBC Sports get wider distribution.
In 2009, Tennis Channel began arguing it was a direct competitor of the
Comcast-owned channels. The FCC agreed and ordered that Tennis be offered to
more viewers. In a lawsuit, Comcast countered that more people watch golf
than tennis.
Golf Channel is available in 20 million of Comcast's video subscriber homes,
out of its total of 22 million, according to a person familiar with the
matter. About three million homes subscribe to the Comcast sports tier that
provides Tennis Channel. Across the entire TV universe, Golf reached about
84 million homes at the end of 2012, compared with about 33 million for
Tennis, according to market researcher SNL Kagan.
Cable companies pay channels licensing fees based on how widely the channels
are distributed. In this case, the appeals court ruled, Comcast had no
business incentive to put the Tennis Channel, launched in 2003, into more
homes and pay more in fees.
"Tennis showed no corresponding benefits that would accrue to Comcast by its
accepting the change," the court found. The judges left intact the FCC's
powers to regulate channel lineups in future cases where the facts may
differ. An FCC spokesman declined to comment.
The Tennis Channel said it was "disappointed" with the ruling and said it
intended to seek "further review" of the decision. "We believe that it is
the obligation of the FCC to act in the public interest to ensure a diverse
marketplace of voices."
Comcast applauded the court's ruling: "Comcast's decision to carry Tennis
Channel was the product of legitimate business considerations, not
affiliation," a spokeswoman said.
"As Comcast maintained from the start, those facts did not and could not
support the finding of discrimination necessary to sustain a program
carriage violation."Regional sports networks, in particular, could be
affected. The court's decision could give operators more flexibility to put
regional sports networks on less widely distributed tiers.
The ruling could also force the FCC to rethink how it intervenes in
programming disputes. In a similar case before the commission, Game Show
Network is arguing it should get better placement from Cablevision Systems
Corp. CVC -2.26%of Long Island, N.Y. Game Show Network is owned by Sony Corp
.'s SNE -3.31%Sony Pictures Entertainment and DirecTV.
Last month, all sides agreed to postpone a hearing on the dispute so that
regulators could take into account the federal appeals court's Comcast
ruling. | b*e
发帖数: 3845 | 2 tennis channel应该提供live streaming service.
as
【在 n*********e 的大作中提到】
: 美国网球玩完了。。。
: Comcast Corp., CMCSA -1.92%the country's largest cable provider, has no
: obligation to distribute the independently owned Tennis Channel as widely as
: its own niche sports networks, a federal appeals court said, striking a
: blow against smaller cable channels hunting for viewers.
: The Tuesday ruling by a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for
: the District of Columbia Circuit suggests that upstart channels must clear a
: high bar to force pay-TV providers to carry them. The judges said the
: Tennis Channel failed to demonstrate that Comcast didn't have legitimate
: business reasons for relegating the channel to a lesser tier.
| r*****u
发帖数: 169 | 3 tennis channel还守着传统媒体渠道，现在看网球上Xbox live ESPN，多的看不完，大
家多在走新兴渠道。 | n*********e
发帖数: 25274 | 4 ESPN大赛时候周末是不转播的，没权转播。。。
【在 r*****u 的大作中提到】
: tennis channel还守着传统媒体渠道，现在看网球上Xbox live ESPN，多的看不完，大
: 家多在走新兴渠道。
| b*e
发帖数: 3845 | 5 哈哈，我也是用xbox 360看。
【在 r*****u 的大作中提到】
: tennis channel还守着传统媒体渠道，现在看网球上Xbox live ESPN，多的看不完，大
: 家多在走新兴渠道。
|
|
