Washington State internet service provider Wave Broadband filed a claim with the FCC against telecom giant Comcast this past December.
Wave claims that it signed licensing agreements with Comcast’s Sports Nets division in 2013 and 2014 that required a certain percentage of customers to subscribe to the sports channels. At the time, Wave thought the targets were attainable because Comcast was selling the channels to only a few providers.
In the meantime, though, Comcast started offering those channels on multiple streaming sites, including Hulu and Sling TV. Some Wave subscribers downgraded their service to a basic package of channels and then flocked to the streaming sites, making it impossible for Wave to reach the minimum number of Sports Nets subscribers, the Kirkland company claims.
The claim which argued that Comcast refused to negotiate in good faith concerning their control over the marketplace has been rejected by the FCC. Surprise.
"[W]e dismiss the Petition because Wave did not file within the time limit that our program access rule requires," the FCC said in its ruling on Wednesday. [...]
Wave had argued that there was no time limit to petitions regarding Section 548(b) prohibitions on cable operators using deceptive or unfair acts and practices to hinder rivals' access to programming. Wave also warned that Comcast's argument, if accepted by the FCC, would allow all manner of egregious behavior as long as it isn't complained about within one year of signing a multi-year agreement.
The FCC was not convinced, saying that Wave in reality filed a program access complaint that was subject to the strict deadline. The FCC also said it would not waive the one-year deadline for such complaints, saying that "Wave articulate[d] no reason to justify waiver of the one-year time limit."
The dicey part here is that the FCC chose to use the one year filing technicality in order to not have to analyze the merits of Wave Broadband’s complaint. If you sign a multi-year deal with a company and then after the “one year” that company begins to act in bad faith, do you not have a complaint?