Channel 7 Owner Takes Comcast To Court

BOSTON, MA - Channel 7, NBC television's Boston network affiliate, has filed a federal lawsuit against parent company Comcast to prevent the media giant from cutting its local affiliate contract.

Comcast plans to move Channel 7's local broadcasts to New England Cable News by year's end. The owner of Channel 7 (WHDH-TV) brought a suit in federal court Thursday to block that move.

The suit alleges that Comcast’s plan breaches its contract with WHDH and violates both Massachusetts and federal antitrust laws. Key to those claims is this line, in a statement from WHDH:

"At the same time Comcast announced that it would broadcast its new station over the air from WNEU-TV, a Telemundo station located in Merrimack, New Hampshire. WNEU’s signal does not reach nearly 4 million greater Boston residents who currently receive WHDH’s signal, including residents in primarily minority communities such as Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan and Brockton. Most of those residents would have to purchase cable service from Comcast if they want to keep receiving NBC programming."

The statement goes on to allege Comcast has not negotiated in good faith, given these and larger anti-trust concerns, that it has engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices under Massachusetts law and that Comcast’s actions violate federal and state antitrust laws.

These actions "enabled Comcast to increase its monopoly power in the Boston television market, and the resulting decrease in competition will harm consumers, advertisers and other broadcasters," WHDH's statement concludes.

WHDH's Miami-based owner, Sunbeam Television Corp., is seeking an injunction to stop the move, as well as unspecified damages.

Comcast is planning to convert a station it owns in Merrimack – WNEU-TV Channel 60 – from Telemundo to NBC programming at the end of the year.

>> Photo by Patrick Mannion via Flickr / Creative Commons