According to FierceCable, no monetary payment was announced, but the DOJ said AT&T agreed it will not share program licensing information with competitors in the future and will also self-monitor.
The agreement does not, however, stipulate that DirecTV, the No. 2 pay-TV operator in the Southern California region, carry SportsNet LA, the exclusive local TV home of the Major League Baseball’s L.A. Dodgers.“When competitors email, text, or otherwise share confidential and strategically sensitive information with each other to avoid competing, consumers lose,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, in a statement. “Today’s settlement promotes competition among pay-television providers and prevents AT&T and DirecTV from engaging in illegal conduct that thwarts the competitive process.”
TWC signed a 25-year, $8.5 billion program licensing deal with the Dodgers in January 2013 and launched TWC SportsNet LA in March 2014. Today, Charter Communications—the company that bought TWC in 2015—is the only major pay-TV operator in the SoCal region to carry the channel.
The RSN is entering its fourth MLB season distributed in less than half of Los Angeles-area homes.
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