AT&T has asked the FCC to require Cox to give AT&T access to its
regional sports net in San Diego, citing the FCC's recentdecision to loosen/close the terrestrial exemption.
AT&T
points out that its request for review of an FCC decision denying an
earlier complaint has been pending for almost 11 months and the start of
the baseball season--Cox carries Padres games on that RSN--is only a
few weeks away.
"Despite the commission's confirmation that the
Cable Act's program access mandates are not limited by a so-called
'terrestrial loophole," Cox has persisted in its refusal to even
consider licensing must-have regional sports programming to AT&T in
San Diego," AT&T told the commission.
The FCC's Media Bureau
denied the complaint on the ground that there was no program access
mandate for vertically integrated, terrestrially delivered programming
(the so-called terrestrial exemption/loophole). The FCC has now said
that is no longer a blanket exemption from program access complaints.
AT&T said it unsuccessfully tried to initiate negotiations with
Cox earlier this month, and says it will suffer anticompetitive harm if
its U-Verse service does not have access to Padres games.
