Appeals court rules against exclusive TV deals
Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., and other providers of cable television services may not use exclusive contracts to block competitors from apartment buildings and condominiums, said a federal appeals court.
The Federal Communications Commission didn't exceed its authority when it banned such contracts, citing their anticompetitive effects, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in May.
The FCC voted in October 2007 to cancel exclusive agreements between cable companies and apartment owners, opening the way for AT&T Inc., New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., and others to offer services in buildings that had locked them out. The National Cable & Telecommuni-cations Association appealed, saying the agency had exceeded its authority.
"The commission balanced benefits against harms and expressly determined that applying the rule to existing contracts was worth its costs," the three-judge panel said in its order.
The FCC rule bars cable companies from enforcing current exclusive- access deals, or making new ones, in residential buildings such as apartments and condominiums.
"Incumbent cable companies were actively walling off competition," Michael Balmoris, a spokesman at Dallas-based AT&T said.
The cable trade group
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