Vin like I said before they already offer the same thing for other regimal sports channels I used to have CSN New England, CSN Baltimore, CSN Bay (SF) ect. I could watch each of them and get the home team games. I don't see Comcas treating this differently if they are forced to provide the channel
Official Driver of the Eagles Bandwagon!!! Bleedin' Green since birth!
"Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many." - Mike Willey
Comcast Holds RSN Talks
DirecTV, Dish Network Want Access to CSN Philadelphia
By John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 8/2/2010 12:01:00 AM
Washington — Comcast is in talks with DirecTV and Dish Network about carriage of its regional sports network in Philadelphia, according to people familiar with those talks.
Both satellite carriers formally asked the Federal Communications Commission for access to Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, which televises Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball games, Philadelphia 76ers National Basketball Association contests and Philadelphia Flyers National Hockey League match-ups.
The request came in the wake of the commission’s decision earlier this year that terrestrially delivered networks were not de facto excluded from complaints about access to distributor-owned programming (the so-called terrestrial exemption).
Comcast holds a majority stake in Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the 76ers and the Flyers.
Comcast has long argued that it would make the RSN available to satellite providers, as it already does to cable and telco competitors (FiOS TV and RCN), when Comcast gains access to exclusive programming, such as DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket package of out-ofmarket NFL games.
The FCC’s rule change prompted the carriage talks.
A source said talks are ongoing, but that Comcast is still not inclined to make the programming available. Moreover, even if it does, it will insist on conditions of carriage that would make it more palatable to the company.
A Comcast spokesperson declined comment.
A DirecTV spokesperson confirmed that the company had made a formal request for access, but said the company was “waiting to hear back.” Asked if that meant the company was not in discussions, he declined comment. Officials at Dish Network could not be reached at press time.
In related news last week, the FCC granted the request of the American Cable Association and others to extend the comment deadline on the Comcast and NBC Universal joint-venture deal by two weeks, until Aug. 19.
The extension came soon after both Comcast and NBCU said they supported the request to move the deadline date from Aug. 5.
ACA and others argued that they needed the time to fully vet Comcast and NBCU’s 599- page defense of the deal, which was filed July 21 but which ACA said it could not access until after that. The ACA and others will gain about the same amount of time to respond as Comcast and NBC Universal had to reply to the petitions to deny the merger, which were filed June 21.
The FCC has not stopped its 180-day informal shot clock on the merger, according to a spokesperson.
UPDATE: The appeals Court told Comcast to allow satellite companies to provide regional sports networks. I hate Comcast and can't wait to dump them and go back to DTV. The day they start showing CSN Philly is the day I leave that scum sucking Comcast network.
'Refs' side with the FCC
Court backs rule to widen cable access to sports teams.
June 11, 2011|By Todd Shields, Bloomberg News
A federal rule that could help bring Phillies baseball, Knicks basketball, and other sports to more television viewers withstood a challenge from Cablevision Systems Corp. in a court decision issued Friday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said the Federal Communications
Commission acted within its rights in a January 2010 rule that aimed to make coverage of sports teams more widely available. Withholding sports programming by cable companies, such as Cablevision and Comcast Corp., can place competitors such as telephone companies and satellite providers at a "serious disadvantage," the judges said in a 3-0 ruling.
"We doubt that Philadelphia baseball fans would switch" to an alternative TV service "if doing so would mean they could no longer watch Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels take the mound," the court said in Judge David Tatel's 48-page opinion. Comcast, of Philadelphia, withholds its SportsNet coverage of teams in Philadelphia from satellite providers DirecTV and Dish.
And AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have complained to the FCC of not being able to buy access for their television services to sports programming controlled by Cablevision, of Bethpage, N.Y.
Friday's court decision "clears the way for the FCC to resolve pending program-access disputes and to ensure that the programming that is important to sports fans is available to them," Michael Glover, a Verizon senior vice president, said in an e-mail.
In its 2010 rule, the FCC said cable competitors were harmed when they were unable to get access to cable-owned sports shows.
The judges put one restriction on the rule, saying the FCC can't simply assume harm without looking at a particular complaint. This story contains information from the Associated Press.
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