Class action HD lawsuit?

[CPanther95]

Apologies - forgot I was in the Dish forum.

Info I posted would be making a case against D*'s HD-Lite but would still be relevant in any standards being enforced by the FTC.

 

[T2k]

One word with regard to class action lawsuits.....STUPID!
Lawyers get rich, companies settle without admitting any wrong doing and we end up with a couple of PPV coupons 5 to 10 years down the road.
NightRyder

You forgot the main point of ending up with full resolution HD channels.

 

[T2k]

I've kept quiet on this. We all may not like it but 1280x1080i meets the ATSC Compression Format Constraints and is a Direct to Home Satellite Broadcast Standard.

Which has nothing to do with the HD standards, right.

So what's your point actually?

 

[goaliebob99]

I've kept quiet on this. We all may not like it but 1280x1080i meets the ATSC Compression Format Constraints and is a Direct to Home Satellite Broadcast Standard.

The information that i got directly contredicts what you are saying... check it out here

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=51658

 

[iKramerica]

I doubt "material degradation" means "any degradation". It would come down to court interpretation of congressional intent. I wouldn't put too much weight on that leg.
NightRyder

All we need is a young male judge with good eyesight, and the degradation would be obvious.

People have the whole point of this wrong.

Class Action suits have are bad for business.

Companies will avoid them if they can.

If a settlement would result in no provider EVER claiming a program or channel is HD unless it meets the HD standard, we win.

No money needs to exchange hands.

Upside is they may also be forced to not degrade the network feeds, even the 480i ones, as they do now. Basic and Tiered cable feeds can be degraded at will, as they are not broadcast.

It might be best to sue in CA, as a single plaintiff can sue on behalf of an entire class without needing class status. Dish might require lawsuits to be filed in CO, but by selling goods in CA, they are very likely subject to the laws of this nearly socialist state in which I live.

 

[kyblue]

Bait and switch!

 

[waltinvt]

Monday hasn't arrived and folks are getting litigious already. Sheesh....

It's because there appear to be a few factors that many don't even know about that make things even worse. Hopfully they'll be forthcoming today. Anyway, even based on what Dish has already announced, they've lied to and are manipulating HD customers.

Unless they retract or change something, there's not much they can say tonight that will help. Maybe if they announced that free equivilent replacement MEPG4 receivers will go to existing HD subs first and put the new channels up in MPEG2 untill everyone is upgraded. Even if they said that tonight, we'd know it was because of all the dissent here in the last 48 hours but it would be a step in the right direction. I'm tired of dumping big $$ into "E" every month and feeling like I gotta fight with them every time something nerw happens.

 

[waltinvt]

I think that you would need to go to the source if you want to make a fight. Voom and the other channels are letting DISH and Direct down res their channels. Go to them and make them force DISH and Direct to stop the down res.

If I have read right that is what Mark Cuban did with his HDNet and HDNet Movies. Start at the source and I think you will have better luck on getting things changed.

Just my thoughts.

Exactly. I've been saying this all weekend. They're in competion with each other for viewership and don't want their product "degraded".

 

[waltinvt]

The REAL enemies are the greedy pigs who run Hollywood and give us crap products and expect us to pay thru the nose for them. If anyone needs to be sued it's them for pushing the broadcast flag and forcing HDMI upon us. Hollywood needs to go down.

Hollywood is one but broadcast & cable/sat tv is the other. They're the ones with the power and money to change things but they'll want something in return and that's more control.

 

[waltinvt]

Seems to me the first order of business should be to get the main stream home theater publications on the band wagon. After all this time I have yet to see D* get lambasted for down-rezing by publications like Sound & Vision or Home Theater Magazine. If the relevent consumer publications won't take them task, I don't see much hope.

NightRyder

Good point. Media support is very important.

 

[waltinvt]

I found this on Dish's own website:

And this:

I would image these will be changed soon.
Scott

They didn't stay with the quote. Might be a good idea to document that now before it gets changed.

 

[waltinvt]

Apologies - forgot I was in the Dish forum.

Info I posted would be making a case against D*'s HD-Lite but would still be relevant in any standards being enforced by the FTC.

Ya know, it wouldn't be a bad idea if HD subs of both venues combined forces here. After all, "D" started all this and their subs have got to be fed up too.

 

[nickg420]

Here is some helpful info for all you guys do with it what you may my mother is a lawyer and this is what she has told me about false advertising......

1. Most states prohibit false advertising and deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce. The FTC Act also prohibits deceptive acts or practices, including the false and misleading representation of material facts. Sound like something E* is doing??

2. False advertising is defined as advertising that is misleading in any material respect, either explicitly or indirectly through representations made in a statement or combination of statements and any failure to reveal material facts. Hmmmmm this sound rather familiar doesn't it???

3. A guarantee is also fraudulent when it has so many restrictions and qualifications that it is rendered meaningless; when material requirements of the guarantee are not disclosed up front like when the written guarantee differs from the verbal guarantee given over the phone (OR ON THIER WEBSITE ???), after the consumer has already paid the vendor; or when the guarantee is deceptive or misleading to give you an unreasonable expectation of success or falsely gives you the impression that the service is without risk; or when the business fails to honor its guarantee. Well I'll be damned sounds to me like E* may have some splainin to do!!!

 

[BobaBird]

It really shouldn't have to come to this. If you're a business, don't tell us you're giving us something that you're not.

It is the Dish way. You need look no further than the DVR fee.

I see merit in both the lawsuit idea (because we're not asking for a payout, just for what we pay for) and the newspaper ad, though getting the FTC to crack down on false advertising may get the quickest results. As someone early in the thread said, those results may just be a new acronym but it may also make Dish relinquish the claim of being the "HD leader" when they only offer 7.9 HD channels*. That claim is something Dish is and should be proud of, and I would like to see them legitimately keep it.

The lawsuit would probably result in a payout anyway, with all HD customers being sent PPV coupons in the amount of $3.99.

Spoiler

HD PPVs are $5.99

*1. Discovery
2. HDNet
3. HDNet Movies
4. ESPN
5. ESPN 2
6. Showtime
7. HBO
TNT (.5 due to provider's upconversion PQ)
PPV (.2 due to limited content/appeal)
NFL/NBA (.1 due to extremely limited content)
CBS-W (.1 due to limited availability)

 

[NightRyder]

Maybe I missed something here, but suppose this proposed legal action works, what would stop Dish from converting all the channels to 720P?


NightRyder

 

[jsb_hburg]

Maybe I missed something here, but suppose this proposed legal action works, what would stop Dish from converting all the channels to 720P?
NightRyder

My local CBS-HD looks awesome on my DLP. The problem is that when E* tried 720p, its encoders were poorly set.

 

[cicijay]

FCC has decided that it is not in the best interest for me to watch HD. After all if Dish was allowed to provide me with HD or HD-lite of the networks then my local affiliates would be forced to broadcast in HD and that might cost them too much money.

Currently my CBS affiliate won't even broadcast digitally and the others are not broadcasting even HD-lite. I'd settle for a good enough signal to be able to read the score of a football game!

I guess my point is, Why Cares?, certainly not the FCC or the Networks!

 

[long_time_DNC]

I'm tired of dumping big $$ into "E" every month and feeling like I gotta fight with them every time something nerw happens.

No argument from me there. I dump big $$$ to them yearly and then have to "ask nice" to please get to lease a 942. I shouldn't have had to ask. It should've been an automatic no-brainer option for all current subs.

As for the HD issue...I'll wait to see what's said tonight...

 

[SRW1000]

Well, I tried getting through to the Charlie Chat tonight (yeah, I know the odds are roughly half that of winning the lottery) and was transferred to Advanced Technical Support instead.

I gotta say, these guys aren't very well trained. When I asked about down-converting HD signals to 1280 x 1080i, he explained that they're only switching to MPEG4, but they would never reduce the resolution of an HD channel, since that wouldn't make any sense.

Of course, that only Advance Tech, I didn't get to talk to anyone from Super-Duper Advance Tech. Maybe they have an understanding at that level.

Scott