Jury Awards $6.31 Million in Cox Set-Top Box Class-Action Complaint

An Oklahoma jury awarded Cox Communications subscribers $6.31 million in their lawsuit alleging the cable company illegally made rental of a Cox set-top box a prerequisite for accessing all content and features in its Premium Cable subscriptions. The Friday verdict followed a two-week trial in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City. Similar Premium Cable class-action subscriber suits filed in 2009 were consolidated into one case. In their verdict, the jurors said Cox had sold Premium Cable in the Oklahoma City market only on condition that subscribers also lease a set-top box, that Cox had sufficient market power there to let it restrain trade in the set-top box market, that the tying "foreclosed a substantial volume of commerce" in Oklahoma City to other set-top box sellers or potential sellers, and that the plaintiffs were injured because of the tying arrangement. Cox filed a motion asking for the jury verdict to be overturned because it "did not have a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to find for plaintiff." In a statement, Cox said it was "disappointed in the verdict, but gratified that the jury recognized most of the damages plaintiffs were seeking were unwarranted" and that its motion stood on "solid grounds."