CBS, Disney Fear Comcast Merger Could Reveal What They're Paid for Programming
Posted in: UncategorizedCBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co. are among companies seeking a court order to stop the Federal Communications Commission from disclosing programming contracts as part of its review of Comcast’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable.
Some programmers oppose the deal partly because they fear it will give the combined Comcast-Time Warner Cable too much clout in negotiations over how much to pay for programming from CBS and others. Such retransmission talks are a major flash point in the struggle over who pays for content and rising pay-TV bills. But even the deal’s approval process, it seems, now threaten to undermine the programmers’ position in such retransmission talks.
The companies will suffer “substantial harm” if distribution agreements are disclosed, lawyers for media companies wrote yesterday in a request for an order in the U.S. appeals court in Washington blocking release of the information.
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