Major media conglomerates Disney, Fox, CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc., among others, have asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the FCC from publicly disclosing detailed information about programming deals with pay-TV operators.
If they're not successful, the Federal Communications Commission will post the previously confidential information at its Washington, D.C., headquarters starting Nov. 17, according to Mashable. The FCC will stop short of putting the information on the Internet.
The disclosure is part of the FCC's review of the proposed mergers of Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA and Time Warner Cable, and AT&T (NYSE: T) and DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV). The FCC has ruled that that information about content deals made by Comcast and AT&T is germane to the regulatory approval process.
The media companies filed their appeal Monday, after the FCC upheld its own decision to disclose the documents.
"The release of this information will cause substantial, irreparable harm to petitioners and the highly competitive programming marketplace in which they operate," the conglomerates said in a filing to the appeals court.
For more:
- read this Wall Street Journal story
- read this Mashable story
- read this FCC order
Related links:
FCC denies programmers' plea to limit document access during merger reviews
FCC pauses shot clock on AT&T-DirecTV merger, as Andreessen and Cuban offer their support
Obama tells FCC to take Title II path