FCC sides against cable companies restricting local sports HD feeds
By Richard Lawler 
posted January 20th 2010 3:28PM
posted January 20th 2010 3:28PM
Recently cable companies, most notably Cablevision, have been refusing to share high definition feeds of sports networks they owned and cited a loophole in the FCC's regulations as justification for doing so. Today the FCC voted 4-1 to close the "terrestrial loophole" that previously only required satellite delivered programming to be made available to competitors. Verizon, AT&T, DirecTV and Dish Network are predictable pleased by the ruling, but we wouldn't assume the various MSG networks will be showing up in your FiOS guide right away. This ruling just allows the affected parties to go through a complaint process and show how they are being harmed before the FCC might take any action, and dissenting voter Robert McDowell indicated he expects to see the ruling challenged in court. Unfortunately he did not mean the basketball court, otherwise we could just tie this in with the Lebron-to-the-Knicks rumors and call it a day.
FCC ftw!
Cablevision responds with "Bring it on!":
"While we find the legal basis for the decision unfounded, we are pleased that the FCC recognized the value of Cablevision’s local programming strategy and investments. Verizon and AT&T will not receive an FCC bailout that will allow them to capture News 12, MSG Varsity and other programming that we have developed for our customers. We are also pleased that despite the phone companies' overwhelming lobbying effort, the FCC has ensured a complaint process. If the phone companies complain that they are unable to compete, we are confident that we can prove that it is for a variety of reasons, none of which have to do with HD sports programming. Verizon and AT&T do not need a regulatory bailout in order to compete."
http://www.tvpredictions.com/fcc012010.htm
hopefully it won't be long til I get YES Network on DISH Network to watch Nets and Yankees games... :D. Its funny how I can even get NBA League Pass, but can't watch Nets games, because they say its blacked out because it is available in my local market.. I don't plan on paying Cablevsion 40 bucks a month on top of my DISH subscription to get that. So hopefully if Dish is able to get the rights to have YES Network, it would be great..
Finally, maybe we can finally get some NHL HD games from the Devils, Rangers, and Islanders on Directv??!??!