Time Warner Cable Threatens Court Action Over NFL Channel

I guess all the gearing up I've been doing for the new NFL season has me focusing on sports, so I am also going update on the Time Warner/NFL Network dispute I posted about last week. According to several news reports, Time Warner Cable has threatened to go to court to overturn a decision forcing the cable company to reinstate the NFL Network on some of its systems.

"Given the extraordinary nature of the injunction and the immediate harm it will cause if not lifted immediately, Time Warner will have no choice but to obtain judicial relief to protect its interest and those of its customers, if the bureau or the commission has not acted by 10 a.m. eastern time on Monday," the company said in its Aug. 3 appeal to the FCC.

Time Warner argued that the FCC acted without giving it a chance to respond, the agency exceeded its authority by requiring the channel be restored and that the order "inflicts severe, immediate and irreparable harm" on Time Warner Cable and its customers.

The FCC's Media Bureau rejected Time Warner's requests to stay its decision, reconsider it and refer the matter to the five FCC commissioners for a ruling. "The Commission's obligation is first and foremost to the consumer—not to the private interests of Time Warner or NFL Network—and because of this we again find continued carriage to be in the public interest," said FCC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher. The agency also noted that approximately 30,000 complaints had already been registered with the two companies.

Time Warner Cable has said the NFL Network wants a 350 percent increase over the rate Adelphia was paying, or approximately $100 million. A spokesman for the channel disputed that rate and said the fight was about whether it would be relegated to a sports package or available more broadly. "No other provider in the country carries us on a sports tier and we refuse to have Time Warner do so," said NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky. "We have not had any subsequent conversations but would hope that we can soon."

About one-third of the subscribers Time Warner acquired had received the NFL Network, but the majority saw it by paying for a digital or sports package instead of through a basic cable package, according to the company.