WealthTV Asks FCC to Reopen Comcast Complaint

By MCN Staff -- Multichannel News, 3/8/2010 10:18:00 AM

WASHINGTON — WealthTV asked the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its carriage complaint against Comcast and other cable operators, citing Comcast’s carriage of the channel in a market the top cable operator bought in 2007.

An FCC administrative law judge last year concluded WealthTV had not made its case against Comcast for alleged discrimination, though the full commission has yet to act on that recommendation.

WealthTV told the FCC Comcast has been carrying WealthTV on the Patriot Media Communications system in New Jersey it bought in 2007, without compensating WealthTV. That, the network said, means Comcast was not forthcoming in telling the judge that, due to bandwidth constraints and lack of audience appeal, Comcast did not and would not carry it.

Comcast’s response said its decisions not to carry WealthTV “were completely justifi ed and appropriate on business grounds, and no violations of the program carriage rules occurred.”