Comcast accused of demanding $3.5 million “punitive ransom” from rival

(credit: Comcast)

A cable company that competes against Comcast says it was forced "to pay a punitive ransom totaling nearly $3.5 million" in order to keep airing Comcast-owned TV programming.

Wave Broadband, which has about 455,000 customers in Washington, Oregon, and California, filed a complaint against Comcast-owned networks with the Federal Communications Commission in December. Comcast-owned NBCUniversal asked the FCC to dismiss the complaint, but Wave pressed forward in an official reply to Comcast yesterday.

Demands from Comcast-owned Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) "had the effect of withholding must-have regional sports programming from the largest cable competitor to Comcast Cable on the West Coast unless Wave agreed to pay a punitive ransom totaling nearly $3.5 million," Wave wrote yesterday. This violates Section 548(b) prohibitions on cable operators using deceptive or unfair acts and practices to hinder rivals' access to programming, Wave argued.

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