Liberman: Comcast discriminates against Estrella TV in favor of Telemundo


Details

Gabriel Miramar-Garcia

| 10 April 2016




Liberman Broadcasting, parent of Spanish-language network Estrella TV, is filing a carriage complaint against Comcast at the FCC. Comcast has not been shy in disputing Liberman’s allegations.



estrella telemundoLiberman said that the cable operator violated not only the commission's rules but NBCU merger conditions that ensure that Comcast can't discriminate in favour of its own content.

Liberman says Comcast is favouring its own Spanish-language networks, Telemundo and NBC Universo, and that it is seeking to exert its market position to unlawfully force Estrella to relinquish the digital rights to its own content as a condition for carriage.

"Comcast, the nation's largest cable company and owner of a vast array of TV networks including Telemundo and NBC Universo, has systematically abused its position by discriminating against a vibrant and fast-growing competitor in Estrella TV,” said Liberman Broadcasting CEO and president Lenard Liberman.

“Fortunately, the FCC's programme carriage rules exist precisely to address this type of practice. We hope the FCC will move swiftly to put a stop to Comcast's egregious behaviour not only for the good of our network, but also to send a message to all independent programmers that they need not endure unlawful abuse at the hands of Comcast."

Liberman Broadcasting's filing describes the company's rise over the past several years to become a vigorous competitor with Comcast-owned Telemundo. This includes Nielsen data for key markets such as Los Angeles and Dallas-Ft.Worth where Estrella TV's local broadcast station is distributed on a roughly equal basis with Telemundo. In both markets, Estrella TV ratings in key demographics in recent sweeps periods match or beat Telemundo's.

“This impressive ratings performance is the reason other major multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) including AT&T/DIRECTV, Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and many others broadly distribute Estrella TV and why leading station groups including Sinclair Broadcast Group, TEGNA, Nexstar, Hearst and others have established affiliate relationships in markets nationwide,” the company said. In contrast, it said that Comcast had “refused to distribute Estrella TV on an equal basis with Telemundo and NBC Universo, leading to Estrella TV's stations being dropped in three major markets: Denver, Houston and Salt Lake City.”

If Comcast is found to have violated the Program Carriage rules, the FCC can require Comcast to distribute and compensate Estrella TV on an equal basis with Telemundo.

For its part, Comcast struck back, saying that Liberman simply wanted too much for retransmission fees.

"Liberman Broadcasting has no case based on the law or the facts,” it said in a statement. “First, as a threshold matter, the program carriage rules simply do not cover broadcasters like Liberman. They do not apply to broadcast networks. Second, Comcast did not drop Estrella TV; Liberman pulled the broadcast stations in three markets, and Comcast continues to carry Estrella TV to about six million subscribers across the country.”

It added: "This purported carriage complaint is just the latest attempt by Liberman to extract carriage and fees from Comcast that are in no way justified based on the weak performance of Estrella TV... Comcast negotiated in good faith for months before Liberman pulled the Estrella TV signals in the three markets. In fact, we offered to continue to carry the stations under the existing arrangements, which are the same terms we have with other, comparable stations. Our decision not to pay the exorbitant price demanded by Liberman was a reasonable business judgment in the interest of our customers – and one that has been confirmed over the past year given the absence of any demand for Estrella TV in these markets.”

It also disputed its ratings claims.

“We do not believe Comcast’s customers should have to pay any fees for Estrella TV, given its very limited appeal,” Comcast said. “Contrary to Liberman Broadcasting’s assertions, Estrella TV is not widely viewed among Latino audiences - a fact consistently demonstrated by a wide range of ratings data in the three stations’ local markets, as well as in other Comcast markets that currently carry Estrella TV. Estrella TV’s weak performance in each market where Comcast distributes it today does not justify Liberman’s demand for even broader distribution.

“We are proud to be the nation’s largest cable provider of Spanish language network packages, with a distribution platform that delivers more than 60 Hispanic cable networks on the majority of Comcast Cable systems.”