Judicial Review Sought Over Cable Contracts

Media companies sought the intervention of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the Federal Communications Commission from requiring them to disclose details of TV contracts as part of two big ongoing merger reviews, according to The Wall Street Journal.

TV channel owners including Walt Disney Co. , CBS Corp, Viacom Inc., 21st Century Fox, Time Warner Inc., Scripps Networks Interactive and Univision Communications Inc. on Monday requested an emergency stay of the FCC order and asked the court to vacate it.

That move came after the FCC upheld its position that the contracts should be available for third parties to look at during the agency’s review of Comcast Corp. ’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc. and AT&T’s pending purchase of DirecTV. Going to court escalates a weekslong battle over the issue.

The documents in question, which would be released Thursday unless the court acts, contain details of the agreements between channels and pay-TV providers, including business terms such as the price for carrying channels and guidelines for making content available online. The FCC believes it is important for third parties who are submitting comments on the deals -- including other broadband and pay TV providers -- to be able to review the documents.

The theory is that those documents could help determine, for example, how much market power Comcast has today and how it could use its clout if it were to get even bigger.

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