from: TV News Day [1]

Comcast Can’t Move Local Channels, Judges Say
January 15, 2008

A state judge and a federal judge have each ruled that Comcast cannot move community-access cable television channels higher up the dial and out of the reach of thousands of Michigan subscribers as it had hoped to do on Tuesday.

And U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said a subcommittee will hear testimony Jan. 29 on the provision of public, educational and governmental access programming, known as PEG.

Dingell said his committee applauded the decision to block Comcast’s plan.

“This proposal would have forced many Michigan consumers to pay additional fees to rent set-top boxes to receive the high-quality educational programming they are currently guaranteed with basic cable services,” Dingell said in a written statement.

Macomb County Chief Circuit Judge David Viviano’s temporary order, issued Monday, could affect 400,000 Comcast customers statewide. A hearing is set Jan. 22 on whether the order should become permanent.

The cable company planned to move PEG channels in Michigan into the 900 range, which would require subscribers to buy digital, cable-ready TVs or rent or buy a digital converter box for each analog set they own.

Comcast, which had offered to provide customers with a free converter box for one year, said it was disappointed with the court ruling and was reviewing its options.

The nation’s largest cable provider wanted to move the PEG channels to free up bandwidth so it could offer other services, including high definition stations, to customers paying premium rates.

A federal judge in Detroit issued a similar ruling late Monday in a lawsuit filed by Dearborn and Ingham County’s Meridian Township.

Lawyers for those communities argued that Comcast planned the change without consulting with the communities, violating state and federal laws. They said the communities would lose an important way of communicating with residents.

Comcast lawyer Robert Scott on Monday disputed that Comcast’s move would violate federal or state law. He said the company has provided free cable service to public schools in Michigan and noted that some of its competitors don’t offer PEG channels at all.

“The majority of our Michigan customers already enjoy our advanced digital programming and use digital equipment,” Comcast spokesman Patrick Paterno said in a statement. “These (PEG) channels would be grouped together in a uniform fashion, making it easier for viewers to find them no matter where they are in the state.”