Court Orders Dish to Drop ALL Distant Networks

Greg Bimson said:
DirecTV was affected. They were sued and the judgment was issued in 1999. Echostar stalled it out in the courts all these years, so the process has taken much longer.
Isnt Fox Broadcasting one of the plaintiffs?
 
And wasn't one of the conditions of the DirecTV purchase that D* couldn't abuse its incestuous relationship to exert Monopoly power?

Yeah, we knew that clause would never get invoked regardless of the situation.....
 
juan said:
Isnt Fox Broadcasting one of the plaintiffs?
Yes. So were CBS, ABC and NBC, before they settled out of court. Along with FOX are the affiliate boards of all four networks. Even if FOX drops, the affiliate boards are still pressing the matter.
Bob Murdoch said:
And wasn't one of the conditions of the DirecTV purchase that D* couldn't abuse its incestuous relationship to exert Monopoly power?
Explain to me how being a plaintiff in a lawsuit where the defendant has been found guilty is abusing monopoly power?

The fact of the matter is that FOX may be more unduly hurt by Dish Network's actions than the rest of the networks. After all, FOX pays more for the NFL than any of the other networks; the NFC package directly affects eight FOX-owned stations in the top 10 markets; nine if you include the Boston market when the Patriots play NFC teams.

The main reason that ABC, NBC and CBS are no longer parties to the suit is because Dish Network tied settlement of this lawsuit to retransmission consent. When ABC settled in April of '02, everyone in an ABC O&O was requalified. I seem to recall something happening for the other nets.
 
It is abusing monopoly power by refusing to agree to a settlement that other companies HAVE agreed to make. They play hardball and drive E* into the ground by killing hundreds of thousands of subscriptions potentially driving them to YOUR subsidiary. FOX's losses from lost DN subscribers are much lower than D*'s potential gains from driving a wedge between E* and their subscribers and pulling them into the D* fold....

They can't win it on HD offerings (contrary to their vaporware ads last year), so they win it in the courts by eliminating the competition's competitive advantage.
 
Bob Murdoch said:
It is abusing monopoly power by refusing to agree to a settlement that other companies HAVE agreed to make. They play hardball and drive E* into the ground by killing hundreds of thousands of subscriptions potentially driving them to YOUR subsidiary. FOX's losses from lost DN subscribers are much lower than D*'s potential gains from driving a wedge between E* and their subscribers and pulling them into the D* fold....
Once again, you need to define the settlements other companies have accepted from Dish Network. Maybe FOX will not be satisfied until all customers in their areas are requalified.

And even if FOX settles, it won't stop the affiliate boards from pressing forward. The net result will be the same.
Bob Murdoch said:
They can't win it on HD offerings (contrary to their vaporware ads last year), so they win it in the courts by eliminating the competition's competitive advantage.
Vaporware or not, Dish Network has a competitive advantage by illegally providing distant networks. Providing those network may have actually inflated their growth.

We know DirecTV's plans for HD by those "vaporware" ads. Half of the ad has been implemented, as DirecTV stated the ability for 150 national HD and 1500 local by the end of 2007, by launching four satellites. Two are now in service. We also know DirecTV will be launching another 14 cities (which have been named) in HD by the end of the year.

Yet we haven't heard anything from Dish Network about their plans, other than 2 more cities.
 
Greg Bimson said:
<snip>...
And even if FOX settles, it won't stop the affiliate boards from pressing forward.

Greg, Could you explain a little about these affiliate boards?

Is there just one board for each network representing the non-O&O affiliates of that network?

Do all the independent affiliates stay with each board for the purpose of the suit or can (have) some affiliates settle with Dish and others still hold out?

Other than the Fox Network and Fox affiliate board who have still not setteled?
 
There is one board for each network. It represents all affiliates of a network; the chairmanship of the board rotates amongst the station groups affiliated with the network.

The affiliate board is technically its own legal entity. And NONE of the affiliate boards have settled. There are now five plaintiffs: the four affiliate boards and FOX.