Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—N.D. Ill.: Comcast denied issue certification for interlocutory appeal in antitrust suit brought by Viamedia, (Apr 14, 2026)

By Steven Melendez

Interlocutory appeal of whether markets involved are two-sided transaction platforms would not necessarily speed the case along.

In the long-running antitrust suit brought by Viamedia, Inc., against Comcast Corporation, a federal judge declined to certify a question of whether the markets involved in the dispute are two-sided transaction platforms for interlocutory appeal. Doing so wouldn’t necessarily hasten the resolution of the case, the court found, in a ruling that also gave Viamedia permission to call an additional witness at trial (Viamedia, Inc. v. Comcast Corp., No. 1:16-cv-05486 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 13, 2026)).

Background. Comcast is the world’s largest cable television provider, while one of its subsidiaries is the largest spot cable advertising ad representative. Viamedia is an independent third-party cable advertising company that represents small and medium-sized cable TV service providers that don’t have in-house advertising sales operations. It directly competes with Comcast to represent independent cable operators in advertising sales.

Viamedia accused Comcast of Sherman Act violations, saying it used its power as the largest cable provider to deny Viamedia access to interconnect services it controls and engaged in tying by denying multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) interconnect access unless they used Comcast’s ad rep services. The trial court dismissed Viamedia’s refusal to deal claim in 2017 and, two years after that, granted Comcast summary judgment on the tying claim. But the Seventh Circuit reversed and remanded the case back to the district court, and the US Supreme Court denied Comcast’s petition for certiorari.

On Oct. 14, 2025, the district court issued an order denying summary judgment to Comcast, which had argued that interconnect services and spot cable ad rep services aren’t merely two-sided platforms, but two-sided transaction platforms, and that Viamedia had therefore failed to define the market for the tying product. Viamedia argued that the markets weren’t two-sided transaction platforms “because neither market consists primarily of simultaneous transactions in the sense articulated by the Supreme Court in Ohio v. Am. Express Co., 585 U.S. 529 (2018),” according to the ruling, and that it is irrelevant whether the interconnect services market is a two-sided transaction platform because “Viamedia’s claim does not depend on showing that MVPDs suffered anticompetitive effects in the market for Interconnect Services, and it is therefore unnecessary to consider whether there are offsetting benefits for anyone else.”

The court agreed that neither market was a two-sided transaction platform and Comcast shortly thereafter asked it to allow an interlocutory appeal of the question “Is the alleged Interconnect Services market a two-sided transaction platform?”

Separately, on Nov. 13, 2025, Viamedia updated its disclosures under Rule 26(a) to indicate it wanted to call Ken Little, a previously undisclosed witness, who became a member of Viamedia’s board of directors in 2024. Earlier on, he was chief operating officer of National Cable Communications, Inc., which provides spot cable ad rep services and its 60% owned by Comcast. Viamedia alleges Little “had numerous conversations with Comcast executives about Comcast’s decision to exclude Viamedia from its Interconnects.” Viamedia had a relationship with Little since 2016 and engaged him as an advisor in 2020 but says he didn’t disclose the conversations until after joining the board in late 2024. Comcast objected to allowing him as a witness since he wasn’t disclosed until long after fact discovery had closed.

Interlocutory appeal certification. A district court may grant leave for interlocutory appeal on a question of law which is controlling, contestable, and the resolution of which “may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation,” according to the ruling.

The parties don’t dispute that the question is controlling, or that it’s timely filed, but argues the other criteria aren’t met. Comcast argues that the case would effectively end if the Seventh Circuit found that the market is a two-sided transaction platform, but the court found such a ruling would still require it to determine which product markets are actually relevant.

“Rather, it would only obligate this Court to advance to the next step of the analysis: whether it even matters if the market for Interconnect Services is a two-sided platform or a two-sided transaction platform,” according to the ruling.

The Amex Supreme Court ruling dealt with a “steering” theory of anticompetitive behavior, not a tying argument, and it remains “an open question whether there is any significance for this case whether Interconnect Services constitute a two-sided transaction platform,” according to the ruling.

“A ruling by the Seventh Circuit contrary to this Court’s MSJ Order would not resolve this case, or even bring it close to resolution, but would rather require this Court to consider a second question on which the federal courts of this country have written little, if anything at all,” the court found, denying the motion. “And this Court’s resolution of that question may well end up back in front of the Seventh Circuit. As such, the Court finds that certifying the question presented by Comcast would not in any way materially advance the litigation or hasten its termination.”

Additional witness. The parties disagree as to which Federal Rule of Civil Procedure—Rule 16 or Rule 37—should govern the motion to call an additional witness. Viamedia argued for Rule 37(c), which says that a party that fails to disclose a witness is barred from calling the witness “unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless,” while Comcast argues that Viamedia is actually trying to reopen discovery, which requires “good cause” under Rule 16.

The court found that Rule 37 is the relevant rule, after Viamedia argued that while it would produce Little for a deposition and produce other needed discovery, its motion does not itself require discovery to be reopened.

And, the court found, Little’s announcement that it wanted to call Little came almost a year prior to the scheduled trial date, which is still more than half a year away. “That is a long enough period of time that Comcast cannot credibly claim to be prejudiced to any significant degree,” according to the ruling. Additionally, Little apparently intends to testify about the behavior of Comcast employees, which Comcast can easily investigate on its own or may already be aware of, according to the ruling.

Additionally, there is time for Viamedia to cure any prejudice through additional discovery and likelihood of disruption to the trial is low.

Still, Comcast “casts doubt” on whether Viamedia truly only learned of Little’s conversations in 2024, suggesting it’s not plausible he didn’t disclose the discussions while working for Viamedia as an advisor. The court found that “Viamedia’s assertion stretches credulity—but not past the breaking point,” and that there wouldn't have been benefit to withholding Little’s evidence while challenging Comcast’s motion for summary judgment. “It is also hard to believe that, having chosen to sandbag Comcast, Viamedia would choose to do so almost a year before trial, permitting ample opportunity to cure any resulting prejudice,” according to the ruling.

The court allowed Viamedia to call Little and authorized a limited reopening of discovery, including Little’s deposition, referring the details to a magistrate judge.

The Case is No. 1:16-cv-05486.

Judge: Coleman, S.

Attorneys: Mark C. Hansen (Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C.) for Viamedia, Inc. Alexis Elise Bates (Jenner & Block LLP) for Comcast Corp., Comcast Spotlight, Inc. and Comcast Cable Communications Management.

Companies: Viamedia, Inc.; Comcast Corp.; Comcast Spotlight, Inc.; Comcast Cable Communications Management

Cases: Antitrust IllinoisNews