Mediation yields no winner, so back to court we go!
As we reported last month, the Tennis Channel and Comcast initially opted for an off-the-court approach to try to resolve their differences regarding the latter’s carriage of the former. That is, rather than hammer away at each other in front of an administrative law judge, the players chose instead to use the FCC’s alternative dispute resolution (ADR) route. Optimistically, they advised the Commission back in October that they expected to have things wrapped up before Thanksgiving.
And sure enough, they did just that . . . sort of. On November 18 the parties notified the Commission that they had been “unable to resolve” their dispute through mediation. Which means, apparently, that it’s back to the courtroom for all concerned. (Simultaneously with the joint notice of unsuccessful end of mediation, The Tennis Channel filed its own unilateral notice of appearance advising that it’s all set to go to trial.)
There’s no word yet on when the next set in this match will start. Check back here for updates.
