Minority Television Project, Inc. v. Dish Network L.L.C.
- Maxine Chesney
- 3:21-cv-02214
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 4
In Minority Television Project v. Dish Network, Judge Chesney granted Dish’s dismissal motion because the complaint did not allege required notice, while allowing amendment.
Minority Television Project, Inc. and Dish Network L.L.C.; Minority’s complaint was dismissed, but it was allowed to amend.
What happened
Minority Television Project, Inc. v. Dish Network L.L.C. concerned Minority’s claim that Dish unlawfully refused to carry KMTP-TV, a local noncommercial television station, under federal satellite-carriage rules. Minority relied on a law allowing an injured party to seek enforcement of a Federal Communications Commission order.
The court agreed with Dish that the complaint did not allege facts showing Minority sent the required carriage-election notice to Dish and the Federal Communications Commission by October 1, 2020. Without that notice, the court said, Dish’s duty to carry the station’s signal did not arise. The court also rejected Minority’s reliance on language in an FCC order as an enforceable order requiring carriage.
Judge Maxine M. Chesney granted Dish’s motion to dismiss and dismissed the complaint, but allowed Minority to file an amended complaint by August 13, 2021. The court also continued the case-management conference to October 22, 2021.
The detailed version
- Minority Television Project, Inc. v. Dish Network L.L.C. · No. 3:21-cv-02214
- Maxine Chesney
- July 21, 2021
Background
Minority alleged that it operates KMTP-TV, a local noncommercial television station, and that Dish operates a satellite broadcast system serving subscribers in San Francisco and elsewhere in the district. Minority alleged that Federal Communications Commission rules can require a satellite carrier to carry the signal of a noncommercial local television station when the station properly elects mandatory carriage.
Minority asserted a single claim under 47 U.S.C. § 401. That statute allows an injured party to apply to a federal district court to enforce an order of the Commission when a person has failed to obey it. Minority alleged that it timely filed a mandatory-carriage request for the election cycle beginning January 1, 2021, and that Dish failed to carry KMTP-TV’s signal.
Court’s analysis
Dish moved to dismiss, arguing that the complaint did not allege facts showing that Dish violated 47 C.F.R. § 76.66. The court agreed. The regulation requires a station seeking carriage to send its election notice to the email address provided by the satellite carrier and to carbon copy the FCC’s specified email address. The regulation also states that a satellite carrier is not required to carry a station for the election cycle if the station fails to assert its carriage rights by the applicable deadlines.
The court noted that Minority did not allege that it sent the required notices to Dish and the FCC by October 1, 2020. Because the complaint did not allege that Minority provided the required notice, the court concluded that Dish’s duty to carry KMTP-TV’s signal did not arise. The court declined to treat Minority’s statement that it had “timely filed” a mandatory-carriage request as sufficient, explaining that a legal conclusion presented as a factual allegation need not be accepted as true at the dismissal stage.
The court also rejected Minority’s reliance on an FCC order referred to in the complaint as “MB 2020.” That order stated that KMTP had timely filed its mandatory-carriage request and would be carried by Dish beginning in January 2021. The court determined that this language did not constitute an order requiring Dish to carry KMTP-TV’s signal. The court also noted that Minority had stated in its opposition and surreply that it was not seeking to enforce MB 2020. The court did not consider Dish’s alternative argument for dismissal.
Disposition
The court granted Dish’s motion to dismiss and dismissed the complaint. It allowed Minority to amend, either by alleging compliance with § 76.66(d) or by asserting another legally recognized claim against Dish. The court set August 13, 2021, as the deadline for an amended complaint and continued the case-management conference from August 27, 2021, to October 22, 2021, at 10:30 a.m.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.