Nexstar must face DirecTV antitrust lawsuit over fees, US appeals court rules

DirecTV has successfully appealed a lower court's dismissal of its antitrust lawsuit against Nexstar Media Group and two affiliated broadcasters, Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting. The lawsuit alleges that Nexstar engaged in anti-competitive practices to drive up retransmission fees—the fees cable and satellite providers pay to broadcast local channels. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that DirecTV demonstrated plausible harm, even though it refused to pay the allegedly inflated rates.

The court found that DirecTV’s inability to distribute certain channels due to the high fees constituted sufficient harm to pursue the case. A dissenting judge argued that allowing claims from buyers who didn't pay the prices could weaken antitrust laws. Nexstar maintains its innocence and looks forward to further legal proceedings.

DirecTV claims it lost nearly one million subscribers and thousands of service cancellations after refusing to pay the demanded fees, arguing that Nexstar exploited broadcast ownership rules to increase costs for consumers. The case centers on whether Nexstar illegally deprived DirecTV of a fair competitive process for securing rights to rebroadcast channels.

(Source：Reuters)