Network Wants FCC Review Of Ruling Dropping Spanish League Games

WASHINGTON (AP) — The network that televises Spanish league soccer games in the U.S. says its games were illegally taken off the air by Comcast Corp.

BeIN Sports said Friday it wants the Federal Communications Commission to review a decision by its media bureau, which dismissed the network’s complaint.

BeIN Sports has televised Spain’s La Liga in the U.S. since the 2012-13 season. It was dropped by Comcast ahead of the 2018-19 season.

The network contends Comcast violated provisions that were in place when the FCC approved Comcast’s purchase of NBCUniversal. NBC has U.S. television English and Spanish broadcast rights to England’s Premier League.

The FCC media bureau ruled July 1 that Comcast had “legitimate business reasons” for dropping beIN. The network accuses the bureau of making an “unprecedented departure” and acting “solely based on Comcast’s say-so.”