Cablevision Continues to Battle FCC's Program Access Decision Against MSG

Cablevision has decided to file suit against the Federal Communications Commission's decision to require its Madison Square Garden subsidiary to make its high definition feeds available to Verizon and AT&T. It has asked the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the Nov. 25 effective date of making those feeds available per that FCC decision.

The Second Circuit last week refused Cablevision's request to stay the decisions, a request made before the FCC came out with its ruling the following day upholding the FCC. Now that the commission has weighed in upholding the decision, Cablevision is suing it. "We are pursuing a stay with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals while we seek a review of the Orders," said Cablevision. "We continue to believe that an unbiased review of the data can only result in one conclusion: that there has been no competitive harm to the nation's two largest phone companies. In a highly competitive marketplace like New York, a forced sharing of offerings only deters companies from investing and innovating, which hurts both fair competition and consumers. Verizon and AT&T should be expected to compete based on their products and not by manipulating federal law." Without the stay, says Cablevision, MSG will suffer "irreparable harm to their market share, reputation, and First Amendment rights."