NFL Network said it plans to file a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission about what it claims is discriminatory and anticompetitive treatment by Comcast.

The cable operator was served with a 10-day notice of intent, NFL Network said.

NFL Network said Comcast has moved its channel onto a sports tier, while national sports networks owned by Comcast appear on more widely distributed tiers.

“Comcast has taken the NFL Network away from millions of fans and placed it on a costly sports tier,” said NFL Network President-CEO Steve Bornstein. “We don’t believe that Comcast should charge customers extra for our network while making sports channels it owns available to all viewers on a less costly basis. After months of trying to get Comcast to negotiate fair treatment, we have been forced to turn to the FCC.”

Sena Fitzmaurice, senior director of corporate communications and government affairs at Comcast, said the cable operator makes the channel available on a tier of service to which the NFL contractually agreed.

“The NFL has immense power in the marketplace, yet it keeps running to the federal and state governments to try to force changes in the deal it freely accepted in negotiations with Comcast,” Ms. Fitzmaurice said. “The agreement we have to carry the NFL Network is pro-consumer. It allows us to place this expensive channel on a tier of service for those who wish to pay for it, not on a tier where everyone must pay for it."

The dispute between NFL Network and Comcast also is in court in New York state, but NFL Network said that claim is over contract language, rather than the violation covered by its FCC complaint.