Feds Sue At&T For Alleged Plot To Black Out LA Dodgers

(RTTNews) - The Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T Inc.'s (T) DirecTV for acting as the ringleader of a series of unlawful information exchanges between DIRECTV and three of its competitors during negotiations to carry SportsNet LA that holds the exclusive rights to Dodgers games in the Los Angeles area.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The DoJ 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.

The department claims that information exchange helped to obtain bargaining leverage and to reduce the risk of losing subscribers to a competitor.

"As the complaint explains, Dodgers fans were denied a fair competitive process when DIRECTV orchestrated a series of information exchanges with direct competitors that ultimately made consumers less likely to be able to watch their hometown team," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Sallet of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.