Cox Cable Box Litigation (MDL 2048)
In Re: Cox Set-Top Cable Television Box Anti-Trust Litigation is a Federal antitrust lawsuit filed against Cox Cable, the third largest cable television provider in the United States. The basis of this lawsuit is Cox’s practice of requiring its premium cable subscribers to rent a cable box from Cox rather than allowing those customers to purchase the cable box. This requirement constitutes an illegal tying arrangement, which violates the Sherman Antitrust Act

An illegal tying arrangement requires the proof of four things. First, two separate products or services must be involved. In our case, cable television services are a completely separate product from a cable box. Second, the purchase of the tying product (here the cable service) is conditioned on the additional purchase of the tied product (the cable box). Showing that the seller (Cox) has sufficient market power in the market for the tying product (premium cable service) is the third step. This lawsuit has been filed in markets around the country where Cox is the main provider and in many instances the sole provider of premium cable services. The final piece that must be shown is that the alleged behavior has more than an insubstantial effect on interstate commerce in the tied product market. In our case, Cox’s insistence that Cox customers rent a cable box in order to receive Cox premium cable prevents thousands of potential customers from purchasing cable boxes from any source, severely restraining interstate commerce.
The Judicial Panel for Multi-District Litigation transferred the Cox cases to Judge Cauthron in the United States Federal Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on June 16, 2009. Hugh Lambert was chosen as a member of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee and is co-chair of the Experts Sub-Committee. Plaintiffs in the case have survived a Rule 12 Motion to Dismiss and are currently in a complex discovery process to find further evidence of Cox’s unlawful tying of cable boxes to premium cable services.
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