U.S. Sues AT&T's DirecTV On Blackout Of Dodgers Channel

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Department of Justice sued DirecTV and its corporate successor, AT&T Inc. (T), today for acting as the ringleader of a series of unlawful information exchanges between DirecTV and three of its competitors - Cox Communications Inc., Charter Communications Inc. and AT&T - during the companies' negotiations to carry SportsNet LA, which holds the exclusive rights to telecast almost all live Dodgers games in the Los Angeles area.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that DirecTV unlawfully exchanged competitively-sensitive information with Cox, Charter and AT&T during the companies' negotiations for the right to telecast the Dodgers Channel.

Specifically, the complaint alleges that DirecTV and each of these competitors agreed to and did exchange non-public information about their companies' ongoing negotiations to telecast the Dodgers Channel, as well as their companies' future plans to carry - or not carry - the channel.

The complaint also alleged that the companies engaged in this conduct in order unlawfully to obtain bargaining leverage and to reduce the risk that they would lose subscribers if they decided not to carry the channel but a competitor chose to do so.

The complaint further alleged that the information learned through these unlawful agreements was a material factor in the companies' decisions not to carry the Dodgers Channel. The Dodgers Channel is still not carried by DirecTV, Cox or AT&T.