Liberman Broadcasting Asks FCC to Reconsider Comcast Complaint Dismissal

Liberman Broadcasting, parent of Spanish-language network Estrella TV, has asked the Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau to reconsider its decision to reject Liberman's program carriage complaint against Comcast for lack of standing, saying to read a TV broadcast station out of the definition of video programming vendor is illegal.

On Aug. 26, the FCC's Media Bureau said the broadcasters' retransmission issues with Comcast did not equate to program carriage under the FCC rules because it was not a video programming vendor under those rules and so did not have standing to bring the complaint. But in a Petition for Reconsideration filed Sept. 26, Liberman said the bureau had ignored the plain language of the law when it concluded it was not a video programming vendor--"programming ...provided by a television broadcast station." Liberman says that error alone justifies reconsideration. Additionally, Liberman said it had supplied enough evidence for a prima facie case against Comcast. The FCC said it had not. Liberman also said that the bureau had erred in not considering distribution of Estrella TV outside its broadcast footprint.