Brantley

Plaintiffs, a putative class of retail cable and satellite television subscribers, appeal the dismissal of the third version of their complaint against television programmers (Programmers) and distributors (Distributors). The complaint alleged that Programmers’ practice of selling multi-channel cable packages violates Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 . In essence, plaintiffs seek to compel programmers and distributors of television programming to sell each cable channel separately, thereby permitting plaintiffs to purchase only those channels that they wish to purchase, rather than paying for multi-channel packages, as occurs under current market practice. Plaintiffs appeal the dismissal with prejudice of their complaint for failure to state a claim. We affirm.

I

The television programming industry can be divided into upstream and downstream markets. In the upstream market, programmers such as NBC Universal and Fox Entertainment Group own television programs (such as “Law and Order”) and television channels (such as NBC’s Bravo and MSNBC, and Fox Entertainment Group’s Fox News Channel and FX) and sell them wholesale to distributors. In the downstream retail…