DirecTV Inc. said June 29 it filed a program access complaint with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against In Demand, a programming service owned by cable service providers Comcast, Time Warner and Cox.

The complaint alleges that In Demand’s pricing scheme for its INHD high-definition programming would force DirecTV to pay three to four times what Comcast and Time Warner pay for the exact same services.

According to DirecTV, In Demand’s original fee structure followed standard industry practice by basing its rates on the number of customers who can actually receive the INHD service. But after launching INHD, In Demand “concocted a new pricing scheme based on the total number of digital customers, even though only a small percentage of those digital customers can actually receive INHD’s high-definition programming.” DirecTV argues that because all of its customers subscribe to a digital service, while less than 50 percent of cable subscribers are digital subscribers, “the pricing scheme results in an obvious discriminatory impact against DirecTV.”

DirecTV is asking the FCC to rule that the pricing scheme violates the U.S. Communications Act and FCC rules and require In Demand to offer the service to DirecTV at rates, terms and conditions comparable to what is offered to cable operators.

In a separate announcement, DirecTV said June 28 that it filed lawsuits in the U.S. District Court in New York and Philadelphia against six individuals it claims were setting up false subscription accounts and illegally activating DirecTV receivers.