Comcast to FCC: Dismiss Estrella TV Complaint

In a filing June 7, Comcast has told the Federal Communications Commission that Liberman Broadcasting's (LBI) program carriage complaint related to the mutlichannel video programming distributors (MVPD's) dropping of three TV stations fails on three grounds: 1) As a broadcast network, Liberman is not authorized to bring a carriage complaint, which is confined to cable networks (Comcast's negotiations were instead covered by must-carry, retrans regime); 2) Comcast's request for digital distribution rights as a condition of carriage is not a demand for a financial interest in Estrella; and 3) the complaint was filed beyond the statute of limitations.

That came in Comcast's response to the April filing of the complaint. Comcast said it dropped three Estrella TV stations in Houston (TX), Denver (CO) and Salt Lake City (UT), rather than pay the fees demanded by the company. Comcast redacted how many of its customers complained about the loss of signal but suggested it was not many. "Without any meaningful customer reaction from losing Estrella TV, Comcast saw no reason to reverse course and put Estrella TV back on the air," it told the commission. Comcast also pointed out that it continues to carry Estrella TV to millions of customers elsewhere and remains one of its biggest distributors.