Portland Trail Blazers sound off on Comcast distribution of its televised games

Philadelphia isn't the only entity unhappy with Comcast's (Nasdaq: CMCSA) control over sports teams' broadcasts. Portland, Ore.'s Trail Blazers jumped into the ongoing Comcast-NBCU merger fray, with the NBA team submitting a letter to the FCC that asked the merger be made conditional upon Comcast allowing competing providers to broadcast their televised games, reports the Portland Business Journal.

Comcast, for its part, assumed an innocent stance in its (very rapid) response to the Trail Blazers' letter. Comcast "has every business incentive to seek more, not less, distribution" of the team's games, the cable giant said in documents sent to the FCC.

But--and it always helps to be able to bankroll talented writers who can turn a topic on a dime--the operator pointed that it's investing the capital and assuming the risk in the NBC Universal deal and so any retransmission deals must be made with "fair terms" that allow Comcast to recover its investment.

For more:
- Portland Business Journal has this article

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