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URGENT! PLEASE DELIVERURGENT! PLEASE DELIVER , Published by Access Intelligence, LLC, Tel: 301-354-2101 4 Pages Today5 Pages Today CableFAX DailyCableFAX DailyTMTM Wednesday — May 29, 2013 What the Industry Reads FirstWhat the Industry Reads First Volume 24 / No. 103 Match Point: DC Circuit Sides with Comcast in FCC’s Tennis Order The FCC’s 1st decision finding that an operator violated program carriage rules has been thrown out by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. In an opinion released Tues, the court ruled unanimously that the Commission didn’t provide evi- dence that Comcast discriminated against Tennis on the basis of affiliation. The court will issue its mandate in the coming weeks, with many expecting it to vacate the FCC’s order. The FCC offered no comment, nor any indication of whether it would appeal. Tennis Channel, however, made it clear that it will seek further review. It’s easy to speculate on what the decision may mean for future program carriage complaints, but it’s not cut and dry. GSN and Cablevision agreed to postpone their ALJ hearing until July in the hopes the court’s Comcast decision might provide guidance on GSN’s program carriage complaint. However, the 3-judge panel’s decision is relatively narrow in that it rests on a lack of evidence of discrimination, not a broad decision as to FCC authority to act in program carriage cases. Still, there is some precedent setting, with NCTA (which filed in support of Comcast) declaring that it “provides important guidance for the Commission concerning the need to construe and apply the statue narrowly, as Congress intended.” And the FCC’s lone Republican, Ajit Pai , hopes that “the Commission will heed the lesson of today’s DC Circuit decision and re- frain from attempting to micromanage cable operators’ programming decisions.” T