Comcast to pay $50 million in class-action suit

A federal judge in Philadelphia approved a $50 million settlement that brings a decade-long consumer class-action lawsuit against Comcast closer to closure.

The suit, first filed in Philadelphia federal district court in December 2003, claimed that Comcast engaged in anticompetitive behavior by concentrating its cable systems in the broader Philadelphia area and making it difficult for RCN, a competitor, to expand telecommunications services there. By doing so, Comcast could charge higher prices for its cable-TV service, the suit claimed. Judge John R. Padova's preliminary decision entitles about 800,000 current and former Comcast cable-TV subscribers in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties and Philadelphia to $15 in credits, or Comcast services valued at $30 to $43.90, according to court documents.