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US: Bostons’s Channel 7 sues Comcast in NBC fight

By  |  March 13, 2016

WHDH-TV (Channel 7), the NBC television affiliate in Boston owned by Ed Ansin, has gone to court in a bid to block Comcast Corp. from terminating the station’s network contract.

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    WHDH, in a 68-page complaint filed Thursday in US District Court in Boston, alleges that Comcast’s plan to take away the network affiliation is a breach of their contract, and that the cable giant, which owns NBC, is in violation of Massachusetts and federal antitrust law. Ansin’s station is seeking an injunction to stop the move, as well as unspecified damages.

    In January, Comcast said its new station, dubbed NBC Boston, would carry the the network’s programs such as “The Voice,” now seen on Channel 7, as well as new syndicated shows, starting in 2017. The station will have a local news team, adding to the expansion that has already taken place at New England Cable News and Spanish-language station Telemundo Boston, which are also owned by Comcast.

    Comcast has not said where the new station will broadcast from, but WHDH in its filing asserts that the cable giant intends to share a signal with WNEU-TV, a New Hampshire station that NBC owns and currently broadcasts Telemundo on Channel 60.

    Full content: Boston Herald

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