FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ROB BRANTLEY, DARREN COOKE,
WILLIAM and BEVERLEY COSTLEY,
PETER G. HARRIS, CHRISTIANA
HILLS, MICHAEL B. KOVAC,
MICHELLE NAVARRETTE, JOY
PSACHIE and JOSEPH VRANICH,
individually and on behalf of all
others similarly situated,
Plaintiffs-Appellants, No. 09-56785
v. D.C. No.
NBC UNIVERSAL, INC., VIACOM CV 07-6101 CAS
INC., THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, (VBKx)
FOX ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC., OPINION
TIME WARNER INC., TIME WARNER
CABLE INC., COMCAST CORPORATION,
COMCAST CABLE COMMUNICATIONS,
LLC, COXCOM, INC., THE DIRECTV
GROUP, INC., ECHOSTAR SATELLITE
L.L.C., and CABLEVISION SYSTEMS
CORPORATION,
Defendants-Appellees,
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Christina A. Snyder, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted
March 7, 2011—Pasadena, California
Filed March 30, 2012
3481
3482 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
Before: Barry G. Silverman, Consuelo M. Callahan, and
Sandra S. Ikuta, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge Ikuta
3484 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
COUNSEL
Maxwell M. Blecher, Esq., Blecher & Collins, PC, Los Ange-
les, California, for plaintiffs-appellants Rob Brantley, et al.
Glenn D. Pomerantz, Esq., Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, Los
Angeles, California, and Arthur J. Burke, Esq., Davis Polk &
Wardwell LLP, Menlo Park, California, for defendants-
appellees NBC Universal, Inc., et al.
BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC. 3485
OPINION
IKUTA, Circuit Judge:
Plaintiffs, a putative class of retail cable and satellite televi-
sion subscribers, appeal the dismissal of the third version of
their complaint against television programmers (Programmers)1
and distributors (Distributors).2 The complaint alleged that
Programmers’ practice of selling multi-channel cable pack-
ages violates Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. In
essence, plaintiffs seek to compel programmers and distribu-
tors of television programming to sell each cable channel sep-
arately, 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 prac-
tice. 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 market, distributors such as Time Warner and Echostar
sell the programming channels to consumers.3
1
Programmer Defendants include NBC Universal, Inc., Viacom, Inc.,
The Walt Disney Company, Fox Entertainment Group, Inc., and Turner
Broadcasting System, Inc.
2
Distributor Defendants include Time Warner Cable Inc., Comcast Cor-
poration, Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, CoxCom, Inc., The
DIRECTV Group, Inc., Echostar Satellite L.L.C., and Cablevision Sys-
tems Corporation.
3
Plaintiffs acknowledge three categories of distributors, namely, cable
providers, satellite providers, and telephone companies. Plaintiffs have
filed suit only against the cable and satellite providers.
3486 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
According to plaintiffs’ third amended complaint, Program-
mers have two categories of programming channels: “must-
have” channels with high demand and a large number of
viewers, and a group of less desirable, low-demand channels
with low viewership. Plaintiffs allege that “[e]ach program-
mer defendant, because of its full or partial ownership of a
broadcast channel and its ownership or control of multiple
important cable channels, has a high degree of market power
vis-a-vis all distributors,” and that Programmers exploit this
market power by requiring distributors, “as a condition to pur-
chasing each programmer’s broadcast channel and its ‘must
have’ cable channels,” to “also acquire and resell to consum-
ers all the rest of the cable channels owned or controlled by
each programmer” and “agree they will not offer unbundled
[i.e., individual] cable channels to consumers.” “As a conse-
quence,” plaintiffs contend, “distributors can offer consumers
only prepackaged tiers of cable channels which consist of
each programmer’s entire offering of channels.” Plaintiffs
allege that these business practices impair competition among
Distributors for consumer business, and therefore the Pro-
grammers and Distributors are in violation of Section 1 of the
Sherman Act. Plaintiffs seek monetary damages under 15
U.S.C. § 15.4 Plaintiffs also seek an injunction to compel Pro-
grammers to make channels available on an individual basis.
4
Section 15 states in pertinent part:
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section [relating to
damages payable to foreign states and their instrumentalities],
any person who shall be injured in his business or property by
reason of anything forbidden in the antitrust laws may sue there-
for in any district court of the United States in the district in
which the defendant resides or is found or has an agent, without
respect to the amount in controversy, and shall recover threefold
the damages by him sustained, and the cost of suit, including a
reasonable attorney’s fee. The court may award under this sec-
tion, pursuant to a motion by such person promptly made, simple
interest on actual damages for the period beginning on the date
of service of such person’s pleading setting forth a claim under
the antitrust laws and ending on the date of judgment, or for any
shorter period therein, if the court finds that the award of such
interest for such period is just in the circumstances.
15 U.S.C. § 15(a).
BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC. 3487
The district court dismissed plaintiffs’ first amended com-
plaint without prejudice on the ground that plaintiffs failed to
show that their alleged injuries were caused by an injury to
competition. In their second amended complaint, plaintiffs
alleged that Programmers’ practice of selling packaged cable
channels foreclosed independent programmers from entering
and competing in the upstream market for programming chan-
nels. The district court subsequently denied defendants’
motion to dismiss, holding that plaintiffs had adequately
pleaded injury to competition.
After preliminary discovery efforts on the question whether
the Programmers’ practices had excluded independent pro-
grammers from the upstream market, the plaintiffs decided to
abandon this approach.5 Pursuant to a stipulation among the
parties, plaintiffs filed their third amended complaint, which
deleted all allegations that the Programmers and Distributors’
contractual practices foreclosed independent programmers
from participating in the upstream market, along with a
motion requesting the court to rule that plaintiffs did not have
to allege foreclosure in the upstream market in order to defeat
a motion to dismiss. The parties also agreed that Programmers
and Distributors could file a motion to dismiss, and that if
Programmers and Distributors prevailed, this third complaint
would be dismissed with prejudice. The district court entered
an order on October 15, 2009 granting Programmers and Dis-
tributors’ motion to dismiss the third amended complaint with
prejudice because plaintiffs failed to allege any cognizable
injury to competition. The district court also denied plaintiffs’
motion to rule on the question whether allegations of fore-
closed competition are required to state a Section 1 claim.
Plaintiffs timely appeal.
5
Programmers and Distributors claim that plaintiffs decided to discon-
tinue discovery after preliminary review showed there was no evidence to
support their claim that the packaging of channels foreclosed competition
in the upstream market.
3488 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
II
[1] Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits “[e]very con-
tract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or con-
spiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several
States.” 15 U.S.C. § 1. While Section 1 could be interpreted
to proscribe nearly all contracts, the Supreme Court has never
“taken a literal approach to [its] language,” Texaco Inc. v.
Dagher, 547 U.S. 1, 5 (2006); see also Bd. of Trade of Chi.
v. United States, 246 U.S. 231, 238 (1918). Rather, the Court
has repeatedly observed that Section 1 “outlaw[s] only unrea-
sonable restraints.” State Oil Co. v. Khan, 522 U.S. 3, 10
(1997).
We generally evaluate whether a practice unreasonably
restrains trade in violation of Section 1 under the “rule of rea-
son.”6 See Leegin Creative Leather Prods., Inc. v. PSKS, Inc.,
551 U.S. 877, 885 (2007). “In its design and function the rule
[of reason] distinguishes between restraints with anticompeti-
tive effect that are harmful to the consumer and restraints sti-
mulating competition that are in the consumer’s best interest.”
Id. at 886. The parties do not dispute that the rule of reason
applies in this case,7 and the pleading requirements for a rule
of reason case therefore apply.
6
The Supreme Court has identified a small number of restraints of trade
“that would always or almost always tend to restrict competition and
decrease output,” see Bus. Elecs. Corp. v. Sharp Elecs. Corp., 485 U.S.
717, 723 (1988) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Nw. Whole-
sale Stationers, Inc. v. Pac. Stationery & Printing Co., 472 U.S. 284,
289-90 (1985)), such as horizontal agreements among competitors to fix
prices, see Texaco, 547 U.S. at 5, or to divide markets, see Palmer v. BRG
of Ga., Inc., 498 U.S. 46, 49-50 (1990) (per curiam). The Court deems
these restraints to be per se unlawful. See Bus. Elecs., 485 U.S. at 723.
These practices are not at issue here.
7
In the case of “tying” claims, a per se rule is applied in some circum-
stances. A tying arrangement will constitute a per se violation of the Sher-
man Act if the plaintiff proves “(1) that the defendant tied together the sale
of two distinct products or services; (2) that the defendant possesses
BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC. 3489
We review de novo a district court’s dismissal of a com-
plaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for fail-
ure to state a claim. Kendall v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 518 F.3d
1042, 1046 (9th Cir. 2008). In order to state a Section 1 claim
under the rule of reason, plaintiffs must plead four separate
elements. First, plaintiffs must plead facts which, if true, will
prove “(1) a contract, combination or conspiracy among two
or more persons or distinct business entities; (2) by which the
persons or entities intended to harm or restrain trade or com-
merce among the several States, or with foreign nations; (3)
which actually injures competition.” Id. at 1047; see also Oltz
v. St. Peter’s Cmty. Hosp., 861 F.2d 1440, 1445 (9th Cir.
1988) (same). In addition to these elements, plaintiffs must
also plead (4) that they were harmed by the defendant’s anti-
competitive contract, combination, or conspiracy, and that this
harm flowed from an “anti-competitive aspect of the practice
under scrutiny.” Atl. Richfield Co. v. USA Petroleum Co., 495
U.S. 328, 334 (1990). This fourth element is generally
referred to as “antitrust injury” or “antitrust standing.” See,
e.g., id.
[2] In order to plead injury to competition, the third ele-
ment of a Section 1 claim, sufficiently to withstand a motion
to dismiss, “a section one claimant may not merely recite the
bare legal conclusion that competition has been restrained
unreasonably.” Les Shockley Racing, Inc. v. Nat’l Hot Rod
Ass’n, 884 F.2d 504, 507-08 (9th Cir. 1989). “Rather, a claim-
ant must, at a minimum, sketch the outline of [the injury to
competition] with allegations of supporting factual detail.” Id.
enough economic power in the tying product market to coerce its custom-
ers into purchasing the tied product; and (3) that the tying arrangement
affects a not insubstantial volume of commerce in the tied product mar-
ket.” Cascade Health Solutions v. PeaceHealth, 515 F.3d 883, 913 (9th
Cir. 2008) (quoting Paladin Assocs., Inc. v. Mont. Power Co., 328 F.3d
1145, 1159 (9th Cir. 2003)) (internal quotation marks omitted). The par-
ties have disclaimed any contention that the tying practices in this case are
per se antitrust violations.
3490 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
at 508. Such allegations must “raise a reasonable expectation
that discovery will reveal evidence of” an injury to competi-
tion. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 556 (2007).
Thus, a complaint’s allegation of a practice that may or may
not injure competition is insufficient to “state a claim to relief
that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570; see
also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009) (“Where
a complaint pleads facts that are merely consistent with a
defendant’s liability, it stops short of the line between possi-
bility and plausibility of entitlement to relief.” (quoting
Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557) (internal quotation marks omit-
ted)). In addition, plaintiffs must plead an injury to competi-
tion beyond the impact on the plaintiffs themselves.
McGlinchy v. Shell Chem. Co., 845 F.2d 802, 811 (9th Cir.
1988).
[3] In sketching the outline of an injury to competition for
purposes of this third element, the claimant must identify a
contract, combination or conspiracy that has an anticompeti-
tive effect. Courts have held that agreements between compet-
itors in the same market (referred to as “horizontal
agreements”) may injure competition. For example, a hori-
zontal agreement that allocates a market between competitors
and “restrict[s] each company’s ability to compete for the
other’s [business]” may injure competition. United States v.
Brown, 936 F.2d 1042, 1045 (9th Cir. 1991). A horizontal
agreement (either explicit or tacit) to set prices may injure
competition because the result of such an agreement, “if
effective, is the elimination of one form of competition,”
namely price. United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310
U.S. 150, 213-14 (1940) (quoting United States v. Trenton
Potteries Co., 273 U.S. 392, 397 (1927)). Or a group of com-
petitors may act in concert to harm another competitor or
exclude that competitor from the market and thus “protect . . .
dealers from real or apparent price competition” from the tar-
geted competitor. United States v. Gen. Motors Corp., 384
U.S. 127, 146-47 (1966). Plaintiffs’ complaint does not allege
the existence of any horizontal agreements.
BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC. 3491
[4] Courts have also concluded that agreements between
firms operating at different levels of a given product market
(referred to as “vertical agreements”), such as agreements
between a supplier and a distributor, may or may not cause an
injury to competition. Vertical agreements that foreclose com-
petitors from entering or competing in a market can injure
competition by reducing the competitive threat those competi-
tors would pose. Some types of vertical agreements can also
injure competition by facilitating horizontal collusion. See
Leegin, 551 U.S. at 893, 897-98. Other types of vertical
agreements do not necessarily threaten an injury to competi-
tion. Continental T.V., Inc. v. GTE Sylvania Inc., 433 U.S. 36,
54-57 (1977) (“Such restrictions, in varying forms, are widely
used in our free market economy” and “there is substantial
scholarly and judicial authority supporting their economic
utility.”).
[5] The complaint in this case focuses on a type of vertical
agreement that creates a restraint known as “tying.” Tying is
defined as an arrangement where a supplier agrees to sell a
buyer a product (the tying product), but “only on the condi-
tion that the buyer also purchases a different (or tied) product
. . . .” N. Pac. Ry. Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. 1, 5 (1958).
The potential injury to competition threatened by this practice
is that the tying arrangement will either “harm existing com-
petitors or create barriers to entry of new competitors in the
market for the tied product,” Jefferson Parish Hosp. Dist. No.
2 v. Hyde, 466 U.S. 2, 14 (1984), abrogated in part on other
grounds by Ill. Tool Works Inc. v. Indep. Ink, Inc., 547 U.S.
28 (2006); Cascade, 515 F.3d at 912, or will “force buyers
into giving up the purchase of substitutes for the tied prod-
uct,” United States v. Loew’s, 371 U.S. 38, 45 (1962), abro-
gated in part on other grounds by Ill. Tool Works, 547 U.S.
28.
[6] But courts distinguish between tying arrangements in
which a company exploits its market power by attempting “to
impose restraints on competition in the market for a tied prod-
3492 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
uct” (which may threaten an injury to competition) and
arrangements that let a company exploit its market power “by
merely enhancing the price of the tying product” (which does
not). Jefferson Parish, 466 U.S. at 14. For example, in Blough
v. Holland Realty, Inc., we concluded that an alleged tying
arrangement did not threaten an injury to competition. 574
F.3d 1084, 1088 (9th Cir. 2009). In that case, plaintiffs
entered into contracts with defendant-homebuilders to pur-
chase undeveloped lots plus newly constructed homes. In
order to purchase the developed lots, plaintiffs were required
to pay a percentage fee to defendant-realtors on top of the
purchase price. Id. Plaintiffs alleged that the homebuilders
were unlawfully tying the realtors’ services to the sale of
developed lots in violation of the Sherman Act. Id. We dis-
agreed, holding that because the plaintiffs would not have oth-
erwise purchased realtor services, the percentage fee was best
viewed as part of the cost of purchasing the developed lot. Id.
at 1090.
Further, market conditions may be such that a specific tying
arrangement does not have anticompetitive effects. See
Driskill v. Dall. Cowboys Football Club, Inc., 498 F.2d 321,
323 (5th Cir. 1974). For example, in Driskill, the plaintiff
alleged that defendant, the Dallas Cowboys, had unlawfully
tied the sale of undesirable preseason tickets to the sale of
season ticket packages. Id. at 322. But the court noted that the
Dallas Cowboys had a lawful monopoly in the market for the
tied product, preseason tickets, so the tying arrangement could
not adversely affect competition in the tied product market;
there was no competition to affect. Id. at 323. As the Supreme
Court has noted, “when a purchaser is ‘forced’ to buy a prod-
uct he would not have otherwise bought even from another
seller in the tied product market, there can be no adverse
impact on competition because no portion of the market
which would otherwise have been available to other sellers
has been foreclosed.” Jefferson Parish, 466 U.S. at 16; see
also Blough, 574 F.3d at 1090 (“‘[W]here there is no competi-
tion in the tied market, there can be no antitrust violation.’ ”
BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC. 3493
(quoting Reifert v. S. Cent. Wis. MLS Corp., 450 F.3d 312,
318 (7th Cir. 2006))).
Indeed, courts have noted that a tying arrangement may be
a response to a competitive market rather than an attempt to
circumvent it. See Jefferson Parish, 466 U.S. at 12 (“Buyers
often find package sales attractive; a seller’s decision to offer
such packages can merely be an attempt to compete
effectively—conduct that is entirely consistent with the Sher-
man Act.”). Like other vertical restraints, tying arrangements
may promote rather than injure competition. See Continental,
433 U.S. at 54-57 (1977) (identifying ways in which non-
price vertical restraints may benefit competition); Leegin, 551
U.S. at 895-96 (noting that even though vertical price
restraints can lead to higher prices, “prices can be increased
in the course of promoting pro-competitive effects”). In Con-
tinental, the Supreme Court made clear that manufacturer-
imposed vertical restraints, even when their “intent and com-
petitive impact” is to “limit[ ] the freedom of the retailer to
dispose of the purchased products as he desire[s],” are often
pro-competitive. 433 U.S. at 46, 54-55. While such restraints
limit intrabrand competition, they may increase interbrand
competition, such as by “induc[ing] retailers to engage in pro-
motional activities or to provide service[s]” that “might not be
provided by retailers in a purely competitive situation.” Id. at
55.
[7] Therefore, a plaintiff bringing a rule of reason tying
case cannot succeed in stating the third element of a Section
1 claim merely by alleging the existence of a tying arrange-
ment, because such an arrangement is consistent with pro-
competitive behavior. See Hirsh v. Martindale-Hubbell, Inc.,
674 F.2d 1343, 1349 n.19 (9th Cir. 1982) (“[I]ntru[sion] upon
consumers’ freedom of choice by compelling the purchase of
unwanted products . . . has been implicitly rejected by the
Supreme Court as a sufficient independent basis for antitrust
liability.”). Rather, the plaintiff must allege an “actual adverse
3494 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
effect on competition” caused by the tying arrangement. Jef-
ferson Parish, 466 U.S. at 31.
[8] Plaintiffs may not substitute allegations of injury to the
claimants for allegations of injury to competition. Plaintiffs
must plead “antitrust injury,” the fourth element necessary to
state a Section 1 claim, in addition to, rather than in lieu of,
injury to competition. See Atl. Richfield, 495 U.S at 334-35,
344. That is, in order to state a claim successfully, plaintiffs
must allege both that defendant’s behavior is anticompetitive
and that plaintiff has been injured by an “anti-competitive
aspect of the practice under scrutiny.” Id. at 334 (“[I]t is inim-
ical to the antitrust laws to award damages for losses stem-
ming from continued competition.” (quoting Cargill, Inc. v.
Monfort of Colo., Inc., 479 U.S. 104, 109-10 (1986))). Specif-
ically, to plead this element, plaintiffs must allege facts that
if taken as true would allow them to recover for “an injury of
the type the antitrust laws were intended to prevent and that
flows from that which makes defendants’ acts unlawful.” Big
Bear Lodging Ass’n v. Snow Summit, Inc., 182 F.3d 1096,
1102 (9th Cir. 1999) (quoting Atl. Richfield, 495 U.S. at 334)
(internal quotation marks omitted).
III
We consider whether plaintiffs have stated a Section 1
claim in their third amended complaint in light of these princi-
ples. The key issue raised by this appeal is whether plaintiffs
have adequately pleaded that the alleged Programmer-
Distributor agreements actually injure competition.
There is no dispute that the complaint alleges the existence
of a tying arrangement. In fact, according to the plaintiffs’
complaint, the Programmer-Distributor agreements at issue
consist of two separate tying arrangements. First, in the
upstream market, each Programmer requires each Distributor
that wishes to purchase that Programmer’s high-demand
channels (the tying product) to purchase all of that Program-
BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC. 3495
mer’s low-demand channels (the tied product) as well.8 Sec-
ond, in the downstream market, Distributors sell consumers
cable channels only in packages consisting of each Program-
mer’s entire offering of channels. Thus, consumers, like Dis-
tributors, are allegedly required to purchase each
Programmer’s low-demand channels, which they do not want
(the tied product), in order to gain access to that Program-
mer’s high-demand channels, which they do want (the tying
product).
But as explained above, tying arrangements, without more,
do not necessarily threaten an injury to competition. There-
fore, the complaint’s allegations regarding the two separate
tying arrangements do not, by themselves, constitute a suffi-
cient allegation of injury to competition. Rather, plaintiffs
must also allege facts showing that an injury to competition
flows from these tying arrangements. We conclude that such
allegations are not present in the complaint.
[9] First, it is clear that the complaint does not allege the
types of injuries to competition that are typically alleged to
flow from tying arrangements. The complaint does not allege
that Programmers’ practice of selling “must-have” and low-
demand channels in packages excludes other sellers of low-
demand channels from the market, or that this practice raises
barriers to entry into the programming market.9 Nor do the
plaintiffs allege that the tying arrangement here causes con-
sumers to forego the purchase of substitutes for the tied prod-
uct. Loew’s, 371 U.S. at 45. Nothing in the complaint
indicates that the arrangement between the Programmers and
8
We assume for purposes of this opinion, without deciding, that high-
demand and low-demand channels are actually separate products, and do
not address the question whether it is more apt to view each Programmer’s
block of channels as a single product, which would preclude any argument
that there was an illegal tying arrangement.
9
Thus, there is effectively “zero foreclosure” of competitors. Blough,
574 F.3d at 1090-91.
3496 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
Distributors forces Distributors or consumers to forego the
purchase of alternative low-demand channels. Cf. id. Indeed,
Plaintiffs disavow any intent to allege that the practices
engaged in by Programmers and Distributors foreclosed rivals
from entering or participating in the upstream or downstream
markets. Cf. Jefferson Parish, 466 U.S. at 14; Cascade, 515
F.3d at 912 (“Tying arrangements are forbidden on the theory
that, if the seller has market power over the tying product, the
seller can leverage this market power through tying arrange-
ments to exclude other sellers of the tied product.”). Nor does
the complaint allege that the tying arrangements pose a threat
to competition because they facilitate horizontal collusion.
See Leegin, 551 U.S. at 893, 897-98.
[10] Instead of identifying such standard-issue threats to
competition, the complaint alleges that the injury to competi-
tion stems from Programmers’ requirement that channels
must be sold to consumers in packages. According to the
complaint, the required sale of multi-channel packages harms
consumers by (1) limiting the manner in which Distributors
compete with one another in that Distributors are unable to
offer a la carte programming, which results in (2) reducing
consumer choice, and (3) increasing prices. These assertions
do not sufficiently allege an injury to competition for pur-
poses of stating a Section 1 claim. First, because Section 1
does not proscribe all contracts that limit the freedom of the
contracting parties, a statement that parties have entered into
a contract that limits some freedom of action (in this case, by
circumscribing the distributors’ ability to offer smaller pack-
ages or channels on an unbundled basis) is not sufficient to
allege an injury to competition. See Continental, 433 U.S. at
46, 54-55; Bd. of Trade, 246 U.S. at 238 (“Every agreement
concerning trade, every regulation of trade, restrains. To bind,
to restrain, is of their very essence.”). Businesses may choose
the manner in which they do business absent an injury to compe-
tition.10 See Pac. Bell Tel. Co. v. Linkline Commc’ns, Inc., 555
10
A rule to the contrary could cast doubt on whether musicians would
be free to sell their hit singles only as a part of a full album, or writers to
BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC. 3497
U.S. 438, 448 (2009). Therefore, the mere allegations that
Programmers have chosen to limit the ability of Distributors
to offer Programmers’ channels for sale individually does not
state a cognizable injury to competition.
[11] Second, allegations that an agreement has the effect of
reducing consumers’ choices or increasing prices to consum-
ers does not sufficiently allege an injury to competition. Both
effects are fully consistent with a free, competitive market.
See Leegin, 551 U.S. at 895-97; Continental, 433 U.S. at 55.
Even vertical agreements that directly prohibit retail price
reductions, eliminating downward competitive pressure on
price and thereby resulting in higher consumer prices (com-
monly referred to as resale price maintenance agreements),
are not unlawful absent a showing of actual anticompetitive
effect. See Leegin, 551 U.S. at 895. As Leegin explained,
higher consumer prices can result from pro-competitive con-
duct. Id. at 895-97. Had the plaintiffs succeeded in pleading
an injury to competition, the complaint’s allegations of
reduced choice (due to the inability to purchase a la carte pro-
gramming) and increased prices would sufficiently plead the
fourth element of a Section 1 claim, namely that they had
been harmed by the challenged injury to competition. But
here, these allegations show only that plaintiffs have been
harmed as a result of the practices at issue, not that those
practices are anticompetitive.11 Therefore, these allegations do
sell a collection of short stories. Indeed, such a rule would call into ques-
tion whether Programmers and Distributors could sell cable channels at
all, since such channels are themselves packages of separate television
programs.
11
Plaintiffs claim that Theme Promotions, Inc. v. News America Market-
ing FSI, 546 F.3d 991, 1004 (9th Cir. 2008), supports their argument that
reduced consumer choice and increased prices are sufficient to establish
an injury to competition. Plaintiffs are mistaken: Theme Promotions held
only that such injuries, when they are the result of an anticompetitive prac-
tice, constitute antitrust injury, not that any practice causing such harms
was anticompetitive. Rather, the injury to competition in Theme Promo-
tions was that plaintiff ’s right-of-first-refusal agreements had “foreclosed
competition in a substantial share of [the] market.” Id. at 1001-03. The
case is inapposite.
3498 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
not, without more, allege an injury to competition “that is
plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570.
Plaintiffs disagree, and argue that under the rule in Loew’s,
371 U.S. 38, and Ross v. Bank of America, N.A. (USA), 524
F.3d 217 (2d Cir. 2008), they have sufficiently alleged an
injury to competition by alleging that the agreements have the
effect of reducing choice and increasing prices. This argument
is unavailing. In Loew’s, the United States brought antitrust
actions against six major film distributors, alleging that the
defendants had conditioned the license or sale of one or more
feature films upon the acceptance by television stations of a
package or block containing one or more unwanted or inferior
films. Id. at 40. The Court observed that the restraint injured
competition because the movie studios’ block booking forced
the television stations to forego purchases of movies from
other distributors. Id. at 49. The relevant injury in Loew’s was
to competition, not to the ultimate consumers, because the
challenged practice forced television stations to forego the
purchase of other movies, and therefore created barriers to
entry for competing movie owners. Cf. Jefferson Parish, 466
U.S. at 14. Here, Plaintiffs have not alleged that the contracts
between Programmers and Distributors forced either Distribu-
tors or consumers to forego the purchase of other low-demand
channels (a result analogous to the competitive injury in
Loew’s), but only that consumers could not purchase pro-
grams a la carte and they did not want all of the channels they
were required to buy from Distributors. “[C]ompelling the
purchase of unwanted products” is not itself an injury to com-
petition. Hirsh, 674 F.2d at 1349 n.19. We have explained
why this is so:
In order to obtain desired product A, let us suppose,
the defendant’s customer is forced to take product B,
which it does not want, cannot use, and would not
have purchased from anyone. This is typically the
equivalent of a higher price for product A. From the
viewpoint of the defendant seller, its revenue on
BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC. 3499
product A consists of the A price plus the excess of
the B price over B’s cost to the seller. From the
viewpoint of the customer, the cost of obtaining the
desired product A is the nominal A price plus the
excess of the B price over its salvage value. This has
nothing to do with gaining power in the B market or
upsetting competition there.
Blough, 574 F.3d at 1089-90 (quoting IX Phillip E. Areeda &
Herbert Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law ¶ 1724b, at 270 (2004 &
Supp. 2009)); see also Jefferson Parish, 466 U.S. at 14
(“When the seller’s power is just used to maximize its return
in the tying product market, where presumably its product
enjoys some justifiable advantage over its competitors, the
competitive ideal of the Sherman Act is not necessarily com-
promised.”). Nor does plaintiffs’ citation to Ross support their
argument; that case involved allegations of horizontal collu-
sion, which has not been alleged by plaintiffs in this case, and
pertained to standing, not injury to competition. 524 F.3d at
223, 225.
[12] Plaintiffs also contend that because most or all Pro-
grammers and Distributors engage in the challenged practice,
we should hold that in the aggregate, the practice constitutes
an injury to competition. We cannot rule out the possibility
that competition could be injured or reduced due to a widely
applied practice that harms consumers. See Leegin, 551 U.S.
at 897 (indicating that vertical restraints, such as resale price
maintenance, “should be subject to more careful scrutiny” if
the practice is adopted by many competitors). But the plain-
tiffs here have not alleged in their complaint how competition
(rather than consumers) is injured by the widespread practice
of packaging low- and high-demand channels.12 The com-
12
Indeed, because Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that the restraints at issue
in this case were imposed by Programmers, not Distributors, Leegin sug-
gests that any competitive threat is diminished. 551 U.S. at 898 (“If . . .
a manufacturer adopted the policy independent of retailer pressure, the
restraint is less likely to promote anticompetitive conduct.”).
3500 BRANTLEY v. NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.
plaint did not allege that Programmers’ sale of cable channels
in packages has any effect on other programmers’ efforts to
produce competitive programming channels or on Distribu-
tors’ competition as to cost and quality of service. Nor is there
any allegation that any programmer’s decision to offer its
channels only in packages constrained other programmers
from offering their channels individually if that practice was
competitively advantageous. In sum, the complaint does not
include any allegation of injury to competition, as opposed to
injuries to the plaintiffs. See also Abcor Corp. v. AM Int’l,
Inc., 916 F.2d 924, 930-31 (4th Cir. 1990) (finding that aggre-
gating a defendant’s acts, none of which was anticompetitive
individually, did not demonstrate an injury to competition).
IV
[13] Injury to competition must be alleged to state a viola-
tion of Sherman Act § 1. Kendall, 518 F.3d at 1047. Plain-
tiffs’ complaint does not allege facts that “raise a reasonable
expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of” injury to
competition. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 566. Thus, plaintiffs’ com-
plaint did not allege facts that, taken as true, “state a claim to
relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. at 570. Dismissal was
proper.
AFFIRMED.