Comcast Sues San Jose in Franchise Dispute

Comcast Corp. is suing San Jose, alleging city officials are seeking to have the No. 1 U.S. cable television service provider build a local telecom network in exchange for operating rights for Silicon Valley’s biggest city.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, claims the city has illegally used franchise renewal talks to force the cable provider to construct a voice, data and video network free of charge for the city’s use.

The cable provider claimed in its lawsuit that San Jose was violating federal law governing cable franchise renewals and that the cost of its desired network would be passed on to local Comcast subscribers, which in California would be considered an unlawful tax.

From Reuters