Comcast has agreed to pay $16.7 million and provide services worth another $33.3 million to end an 11-year-old class action lawsuit in which Philadelphia residents alleged that the company violated federal antitrust law.

Filed on December 8, 2003, the suit claimed that large cable companies such as Comcast “divided and allocated markets through a series of agreements ‘swapping’ customers and ‘clustering’ cable systems in geographic areas. Such conduct has allowed a cable company, including Defendant, in a particular ‘cluster’ to acquire or maintain monopoly power, raise prices, engage in anticompetitive conduct, and limit choice for cable consumers to effectively the only game in town—the cable services of the 'cluster' monopoly cable company.”

The case went through many twists and turns over the years, including a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Comcast in March 2013. The plaintiffs, who had been seeking $875 million, kept the suit going by moving to re-certify a narrower class of alleged victims. Comcast still denies the allegations but agreed to a proposed settlement.

The plaintiffs yesterday asked the US District Court in Eastern Pennsylvania to approve the settlement. The request states:

Comcast has agreed, in exchange for the release of claims by Plaintiff and the Philadelphia Settlement Class in this litigation, to provide a Settlement Fund of $50,000,000 comprised of a settlement cash amount of $16,670,000 (“Settlement Cash Amount”) and services valued at $33,330,000 (the “Settlement Credits”). Under the settlement, current subscribers of video programming services (other than solely to basic cable services) from Comcast will be entitled to elect either a one-time credit of $15 off their bill, or the following Comcast services: (a) six free pay-per-view movies (an estimated $35.94 value), or (b) for customers who also subscribe to Xfinity high speed internet service, four months free upgrade in Internet service from Performance Level to Blast! service (an estimated $40 value), or one free month upgrade from Blast!® service to Extreme 105 service (an estimated $38 value); or (c) two free months of The Movie Channel (an estimated $43.90 value). Current subscribers who do not elect either the $15 bill credit or from the above services will automatically receive two free months of The Movie Channel (an estimated $43.90 value) without having to submit a claim form. Class members who are former subscribers will be entitled, upon submission of a valid claim form, to payment of $15 cash. The settlement further provides that there will be no reverter of any portion of the settlement (cash or services benefits) to Comcast.

The class will include cable TV customers in Philadelphia and four surrounding counties who currently subscribe to Comcast or subscribed between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2008. Comcast will have to provide notice of the proposed settlement to current subscribers in their monthly bill. Notices will be put in newspapers, magazines, and on TV stations to identify former subscribers. If the settlement is approved, there will be a settlement website at www.cablesettlement.com.

The 2003 lawsuit came a year after Comcast's purchase of AT&T Broadband, which made it the largest cable provider in the US. Comcast now has 22.4 million cable TV subscribers and is trying to purchase the nation's second largest cable company, Time Warner Cable.