Judge to condo owner: Pay Comcast bill

William Crumley Jr. has to pay his Comcast Corp. cable bill, a Philadelphia judge said today.

The judge ordered Crumley to pay his back-due cable bills of about $800, $400 in late fees to the condo association, and $750 in attorney fees.

Municipal Court Judge Bradley K. Moss said that the condo association of the 354-unit River Park House had the authority to negotiate a "bulk" cable TV contract with Comcast for its residents in late 2007 and that Crumley, a resident there, had to participate.

Crumley, 77, a former Philadelphia school principal who represented himself, testified in Moss' court that he believed the cable TV contract violated federal laws, saying he should have a choice of his cable provider and that the condo association exceeded its powers by signing the contract.

Crumley's dispute is part of a broader national public-policy issue. The Federal Communications Commission banned "exclusive" contracts in multiunit dwellings in November 2007, saying they were anticompetitive. An exclusive contract says no other pay-TV service can offer its products inside a building. But the FCC let stand the very similar "bulk billing" contracts for condos and apartments.

In bulk billing contracts, apartment renters or condo owners can obtain a competing pay-TV service, such as DirecTV, but they also have to pay the cable bill under the bulk contract.

The River Park House signed its bulk contract in December 2007 and requires residents to pay about $47 a month for cable TV.

Moss said the River Park contract was legal, although he conceded that the contract made it harder for a competing pay-TV provider to enter the River Park House, in the city's Wynnefield Heights section.

Crumley told the judge he was "upset" with his decision and "I don't understand why I have to pay something I don't want." He said after the hearing in Philadelphia Municipal Court that he might appeal.

Dean Weisgold, the lawyer representing the condo association at the River Park House, said he was pleased with the judge's decision.