WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.
Federal Communications Commission on Monday ordered a hearing on whether cable giant Comcast Corp. violated rules when negotiating to carry the station that airs the Washington Nationals baseball games in the team's home market.

The owner of the station, TCR Sports Broadcasting Holdings, has accused Comcast of favoring its own content and demanding a financial stake in exchange for carrying TCR's Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).

The FCC included a requirement to settle the controversy through arbitration in its approval earlier this month of the Comcast and Time Warner Inc. acquisition of Adelphia Communications Corp.

On Monday, the FCC also ordered an administrative law judge at the agency to hold a hearing to determine the facts and recommend a decision to FCC commissioners within 45 days. The agency said it would issue its ruling within 60 days, but could delay that for 60 days.

The agency gave TCR the option to seek commercial arbitration to resolve the fight or to proceed with the administrative law judge process.

The order for an administrative law judge hearing is an "expeditious path" to resolve the case, Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said in a statement.

"The best solution would be for the parties to reach an accord on their own. If they fail to make a deal, however, the commission's orders provide two alternative venues to reach a final determination on carriage of the Washington Nationals games," McDowell said.

Comcast, the No. 1 U.S. cable operator that serves much of the nation's capital, said it has made several proposals to carry MASN but a deal has not been reached.

"We believe that any program carriage proceeding on this matter -- no matter who is reviewing the facts -- will conclude that the MASN complaint is wholly without merit," said Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky)


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