TCR Sports Broadcasting Holding LLP v. Comcast Corporation

Compass Lexecon expert Jon Orszag, supported by Jay Ezrielev, Elizabeth Wang, Loren Poulsen, and Bryan Keating of Compass Lexecon’s Washington and Cambridge offices, testified on economic issues at an FCC hearing in front of the administrative law judge on behalf of Comcast in a case involving a carriage complaint brought by TCR Sports Broadcasting Holding LLP, which does business as the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), against Comcast. MASN alleged that Comcast’s lack of carriage of MASN in certain geographic areas was discriminatory and sought to compel Comcast to carry MASN in those areas on a highly penetrated tier. The FCC Enforcement Bureau concluded that Comcast had not discriminated against MASN based on affiliation. That decision led Multichannel News to write that, “MASN Whiffs Against Comcast.” The parties ultimately settled the dispute on favorable terms to Comcast. We worked with various members of Comcast’s legal team, including Arthur Burke of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP; Robert Kirk, Michael Sullivan, and Andy Tollin of Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP; and Mike Hammer of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.