Company responds in cable dispute

Allbritton accuses Shentel of violating Communications Act

By Sally Voth -- svoth@nvdaily.com

EDINBURG -- Allbritton Communication Co. fired back at Shentel Communications this week as the companies' Federal Communication Commission fight continues.

Allbritton operates Washington's WJLA (ABC 7), which Shentel dropped from its Shenandoah County cable lineup at the start of the year following a couple of months of negotiations. Shentel customers in Shenandoah County can watch ABC programming on the Harrisonburg affiliate, WHSV.

Earlier this month, Allbritton filed a complaint with the FCC accusing Shentel of negotiating in bad faith and rejecting its own contract terms. It also accuses Shentel of failing to provide Allbritton or customers sufficient notice of the lineup change.

Shentel filed an opposition to Allbritton's complaint. In its opposition, the company said Allbritton had rejected Shentel's offer and suggested a counter-offer before then going back and accepting the Shentel offer.

"Moreover, Shentel formally notified ACC that negotiations were terminated two days before ACC attempted to accept Shentel's prior offer," the summary of Shentel's filing says.

The filing accuses Allbritton of "greedily overplaying its negotiating hand."
On Tuesday, Allbritton filed a reply to the opposition. It calls the cable company's opposition "petulant."

"Shentel either intentionally violated the Communications Act ... and the Commission's rules, or it so thoroughly misunderstands its obligations that it is incapable of compliance," the reply's summary says.

The reply accuses Shentel of lying to "defend its duplicitous conduct." Regarding retransmission consent negotiations, the FCC requires that parties "bargain with 'a sincere desire to reach an agreement,' and to respond to efforts of negotiating partners with clear and honest explanations of each party's position and the reasons for rejection of good faith offers," it says.

Allbritton had accepted Shentel's offer of Nov. 10 on Dec. 22, but Shentel waited six more days to say the offer was unacceptable, the reply says.

"A party bargaining in good faith would have informed Allbritton immediately that negotiations were terminated and that the November 10 Offer was no longer available, proposed new terms, or explained why no terms would be acceptable," it says.

The reply goes on to say Shentel violated FCC rules in "myriad ways, but its most egregious violation was refusing to accept its own proposed terms -- while piously, gallingly, and disingenuously claiming it did so to protect its subscribers from 'egregious rates' that it, in fact, proposed."

"For Shentel to claim that it is protecting its subscribers is as nonsensical as it is offensive," the reply says.

David Ferguson, former vice president of customer service for Shentel and now a consultant, could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.