Comcast Hit for Sending Seat Warmers to Hearing at Harvard Law

An organizer of a federal hearing held at Harvard Law School yesterday is criticizing a cable company for using “seat warmers” that prevented some people from attending.

The hearing before the Federal Communications Commission concerned charges that Comcast Corp. was blocking file-sharing by some Internet users. The company contends its occasional delays are part of traffic management, BostonHerald.com reports.

But the company’s blocking of spectators is what’s getting attention in an Associated Press story. Catherine Bracy, the administrative manager at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said the company sent about three dozen people to fill seats, and none appeared to even know the subject matter of the hearing. Comcast claims it hired the people to hold seats for later-arriving Comcast representatives, but Bracy said it appeared to her the seat warmers stayed seated throughout the event.

"I think it's disingenuous to say they were holding spots for Comcast employees," she said.