Another Court Loss for EchoStar, August 15th RIP

[cj9788]

By Ted Hearn 8/7/2006 9:50:00 PM

EchoStar Communications suffered a court loss Monday regarding its ability to provide out-of-market feeds of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox programming to about 1.2 million customers around the country, an EchoStar official said Monday.

EchoStar asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to stay a key ruling while the case was on appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court refused the request Monday. The case returns to federal district court in south Florida Aug. 15, an EchoStar official said.

The 11th Circuit instructed the lower court to issue an injunction to stop EchoStar's distant network service. The 11th Circuit found that EchoStar had been selling the programming to hundreds of thousands of customers who were legally ineligible to buy it.

 

[ThomasRz]

If this happens and contracts w/waivers are the only way to get distant nets. How much would you be willing to pay? For every $1 that E* pays the network how much should the customr contribute? I think the price should remain the same for us and E* eats any addtional.

By Ted Hearn 8/7/2006 9:50:00 PM

EchoStar Communications suffered a court loss Monday regarding its ability to provide out-of-market feeds of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox programming to about 1.2 million customers around the country, an EchoStar official said Monday.

EchoStar asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to stay a key ruling while the case was on appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court refused the request Monday. The case returns to federal district court in south Florida Aug. 15, an EchoStar official said.

The 11th Circuit instructed the lower court to issue an injunction to stop EchoStar's distant network service. The 11th Circuit found that EchoStar had been selling the programming to hundreds of thousands of customers who were legally ineligible to buy it.

 

[Lucky]

It sounds to me like August 15 is the date the court will issue the injunction, and we will then lose the distant networks.

 

[Slamminc11]

If this happens and contracts w/waivers are the only way to get distant nets. How much would you be willing to pay? For every $1 that E* pays the network how much should the customr contribute? I think the price should remain the same for us and E* eats any addtional.

I say Dish should charge $1.00 to the customer for every $1.00 that Dish has to pay for the distants! Sounds only fair to me!

 

[Juan]

AUG 15th ,2006 Dish Distants RIP

Looks like the fat lady is getting ready to sing!! http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6360281.html?display=Breaking+News

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I like this line...

Under the 11th Circuit's ruling, EchoStar would need to cut off an estimated 600,000 subscribers who have been receiving the network programming legally. Some on Capitol Hill are concerned that legally served consumers are going to swamp them in angry mail if they lose their distant network signals.

Yup and remember its an election year. Which means don't look for them turned off until after the elections.

 

[mdonnelly]

They're gonna have to weigh all that NAB lobbyist money against a lot of angry voters.

 

[mwgiii]

EchoStar Communications suffered a court loss Monday regarding its ability to provide out-of-market feeds of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox programming to about 1.2 million customers around the country, an EchoStar official said Monday.

Doesn't Dish have about 12 million customers? If so, Dish was selling distants illegally to 5% of their customers.

 

[Derwin0]

Doesn't Dish have about 12 million customers? If so, Dish was selling distants illegally to 5% of their customers.

The problem is that almost half of those getting DNS were getting them illegally.

 

[SatinKzo]

How did they do it illegally? "moving?

I know how I got them, but I could claim I didn't know I wasn't suppossed to get them.

 

[cj9788]

Can E* ask the Supreme court to stay the injunction until they decide if they will hear the case?

 

[avediswolf]

CSR are going to be swamped, espicially with people "Moving" just to get channels.

 

[jrbdmb]

Up to now distants NETs cost Dish about 10 to 15 cents each, and they turn around and sell them at $1.50 a pop. Nice profit margin ...

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I said it in the other thread and will say it here, the Distant Networks will not be turned off until after the elections are held. (At least that my opinion.)

 

[JohnH]

Yup and remember its an election year. Which means don't look for them turned off until after the elections.

The Judge is probably not up for election and those Congress types can't do a thing without a majority consent soon. It is the law they crafted which will do it. 1.2 million can create a big storm at a little office, but what percentage of the voting public are represented by this activity?

 

[JohnH]

Up to now distants NETs cost Dish about 10 to 15 cents each, and they turn around and sell them at $1.50 a pop. Nice profit margin ...

Of course, one never figures the cost of sending them from New York or Los Angeles to the uplink and then bouncing them off that Multimillion dollar satellite.

 

[dfergie]

merged duplicate threads and renamed...

 

[mikew]

How did they do it illegally? "moving?

I know how I got them, but I could claim I didn't know I wasn't suppossed to get them.

The issue was Echostar's method of determining qualifications and circumventing the system to give distants even if their system said a sub was not eligible. The court case has nothing to do with "moving".

I know that, when I lived in Las Vegas, I had a Grade A signal from KLAS (CBS). For some reason, the methods they used several years ago allowed me to get the distant CBS.

 

[hobojoe]

well i think they have been using the audit team to go through and reviewed every single case. at least that's what was hinted to me during my audit call. and the reason for the new waver form released this last spring 2006. now i haven't heard a single person say they have been told they are no longer eligible. so are they hoping that they can dump only the ineligible customers when the case is done. or are they gathering evedance to show the court . you would think its to late for eather one. i thought they froze all changes to the distant networks but i just added more giving me all four city's and my locals. i thought why not enjoy them while i can. i can watch TV in all four time zones now! way too cool!!! by the way i have wavers in four differant ways a RV/commercial driver lic/my home address is qualified/and i have wavers from each station (that took me three years to get them all) and i still don't feel safe that i will be able to keep them.

 

[ThomasRz]

Of course, one never figures the cost of sending them from New York or Los Angeles to the uplink and then bouncing them off that Multimillion dollar satellite.

The satellite cost is the satellite cost whether its used for 1 or 1000 signals, i think looking at the incremental additional cost is what's important but Im not a economist. and isnt the network responsible for getting the signal to dish facilities?