The Tennis Channel and Comcast are currently in quite a nasty battle, which has made CEO Ken Solomon so mad that he decided to compare the battle to the unthinkable. But wait…it gets crazier.
Two weeks ago Federal Appeals Court upheld the ruling that Comcast does not have to put the Tennis Channel on their basic cable package, and could instead put it in their more expensive sports tier.
Comcast’s basic cable package has a viewership of 20 million, while the sports tier has just 3 million. With the Channel up for sale the ruling sinks the value tremendously.
CEO Ken Solomon then penned an angry email to his staff voicing his thoughts on the court’s decision. Excerpts are courtesy of Deadspin:
Unrelated to our journey for justice, these three Lone Ranger judges walked into the court with a mission… looking for one thing, to teach the FCC a lesson; already decided. Ideology. Then there’s Tonto- Comcast, who spends more than Exxon and Boeing in DC on lobbyists and god knows what else. They bought this unholy decision, one way or another.
And finally, of all things to say there is not sufficient evidence of discrimination? Even Ray Charles could see the shameful way they treat those they do not own. Conjuring this impossible justification…that there isn’t sufficient evidence to support this and every other painful and brutal discrimination complaint is like looking at a building engulfed in flames and asking “what fire” ??? It’s like being raped for a decade by a brutal captor, finally winning in a long and painful public court trial (while you can’t get work because of your Scarlett Letter), and then on appeal years later from a pre-decided Mad Hatter of a court asking you, the victim, to produce a video to prove that it ever happened. Forget the scars, bruises and painful clarity with which everyone knows that your story is simply 100% true, where is your proof dear Alice???
Well, first things first, this guy is bats**t crazy.
Secondly, need I even go into detail on how weak minded and simply devoid of brain cells one has to be to compare a situation like this to brutal rape and torture? Seriously?
Solomon wrote the email the day of the ruling while in Paris for the French Open. The email eventually got forwarded to Deadspin and is now internet fodder for us to shake our heads at.
The tennis channel has declined comment, and wisely so.
As an avid tennis fan I know all too well the frustrations of having the Tennis Channel moved off basic cable, but by no means does it call for this sort of mental breakdown. Solomon though, has issued an apology:
I regret several ill-chosen, excessively colorful and inappropriate words in a private e-mail to colleagues a few weeks ago reflecting my disappointment with a legal decision. The e-mail dealt with an issue that we are obviously passionate about, but the words do not accurately reflect my thoughts about the case or those involved, and I am very sorry that I used them.
Maybe he was lost in the moment, should all be forgiven?