Comcast Beats Boston TV Station’s Monopoly Charge

Comcast Corp. won’t have to defend its decision to terminate an existing affiliate agreement in order to start a rival station in Boston from the chagrined station’s antitrust challenge (WHDH-TV v. Comcast Corp., 2016 BL 155463, D. Mass., 16-cv-10494, 5/16/16).

WHDH-TV lost its bid to block Comcast from terminating WHDH’s affiliation agreement and starting its own competing Boston NBC station and thus won’t recover its requested treble damages for projected lost profits.

Judge Richard G. Stearns found no antitrust concerns in Comcast’s decision to vertically integrate by establishing its own NBC station rather than continuing to supply ...