2nd Circuit Finds DirecTV Has Standing in Nexstar Antitrust Suit
DirecTV has antitrust standing to sue Nexstar, Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting for an alleged price-fixing conspiracy, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday. In the docket 24-981 opinion, Judges Denny Chin and Steven Menashi reversed a lower court ruling that DirecTV lacked antitrust standing and remanded the case. They said the lower court erred in limiting the cognizable antitrust injury to the payment of jacked-up retransmission consent prices and didn't consider the antitrust injury stemming from blackouts of the broadcasters' content.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
DirecTV has accused Mission and White Knight of conspiring with Nexstar to overcharge the MVPD in retransmission negotiations. DirecTV appealed the case after the U.S. District Court for Southern New York granted a motion from Mission to dismiss it over DirecTV’s standing (see 2412100048).
In a dissent, Judge Richard Sullivan sided with the lower court that DirecTV "failed to show that it is an 'efficient enforcer' of the antitrust laws," which it needs in order to sue. Sullivan said DirecTV's purported harm is indirect and speculative. There's no direct connection between that harm and the alleged antitrust violation, which weighs against DirecTV having antitrust standing, he said.
Nexstar emailed that it "respectfully disagree[s] with the ruling by the Court of Appeals and believe[s] the lower court decision was correct. We look forward to the next phase of the legal process.”