AT&T calls for FCC to reconsider Cox baseball programming access

AT&T is calling upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider its complaint against Cox in San Diego. AT&T wants access to San Diego Padres games carried by Cox for its U-verse video offering in the region, but the FCC denied the request back in March.

In its initial ruling, the FCC said since Cox's cable channel was delivered terrestrially - not by satellite - current regulatory language has a loophole for things such as regional news and sports programming. AT&T says that the FCC needs to reconsider its ruling based on the agency's prohibition on anticompetitive behavior.

However, the FCC is currently looking into whether or not it should close the terrestrial loophole, since rights to sports is the sort of must-have programming that is necessary for competition.

Needless to say, AT&T wants FCC action/relief to come sooner than the time it will take to sort out a loophole, and the company says the agency can do so under current regulation without short-circuiting the loophole fix.

For more:
- Broadcasting and Cable calls the play by play. Post [1].

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