A massive antitrust class action lawsuit has been filed against major media companies and major cable and satellite providers. The class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of all consumers in the United States who, during the last 4 years, have paid for expanded basic cable subscriptions. The suit claims industry practices require consumers to purchase prepackaged tiers of bundled cable channels and that they cannot purchase channels or programming on an a la carte basis. The lawsuit alleges these practices are unlawful restraints of trade in violation of federal antitrust laws.
The lawsuit names Time Warner Cable Inc., Comcast Corporation, Comcast Cable Communications, Inc., Cox Communications, Inc., The DirecTV Group, Inc., Echostar Satellite, Cablevision Systems Corporation, NBC Universal, Inc., Viacom Inc., The Walt Disney Company, Fox Entertainment Group, Inc., and Time Warner, Inc. as defendants.
The case alleges the programmer defendants only sell or license its channels to the cable and satellite defendants as a package. This block booking requires the cable and satellite defendants to acquire channels which, if unbundled, they would only acquire based upon consumer demand. The defendants then repackage and distribute the channels to the consuming public in bundled tiers of channels. The defendants do not offer expanded basic channels to consumers on an a la carte basis and therefore deprives consumers of choice.
