Disney sues Dish again

[Hemi 6.1]

I knew something was fishy about this Free Starz deal.

Last I knew D* parent company owned Starz division.
I highly doubt they would give away their product to one of their companys number 1 enemy.

I asked this question right from the start.

Clearly charlie is to blaim on this one.

 

[Juan]

I knew something was fishy about this Free Starz deal.

Last I knew D* parent company owned Starz division.
I highly doubt they would give away their product to one of their companys number 1 enemy.

I asked this question right from the start.

Clearly charlie is to blaim on this one.

Liberty media and Dish have been "in bed" a long time.Their corporate headquarters are very close.If starz was truly upset the lawsuit would have been months ago...The encore package has been part of a basic tier for Dish atleast 10 years (probably more).. I suspect Disney is the driving force

 

[HDRoberts]

Part of me now wonders if Dish's decision to offer Starz was not a subtle attack on Disney. Give out a bunch of recent Disney film to people that otherwise would have rented/PPVed (or maybe even bought) Disney movies.

So Disney fights back by suing, and gets Starz, who is beholden to Disney as they are screwed without their agreement, to sue too.

 

[ProfStata]

DirecTV isn't controlled by Liberty.

 

[probinson]

If Dish is footing the bill for all of the additional subscribers, then I can't see that there's a problem. But if they're trying to stretch out the "free weekend" thing for a whole year without any extra compensation to Starz, then I think they're in trouble.

If the former is true and they're forced to end the promotion, they should just run a channel slate that says, "We're sorry. We paid to give you Starz free for a year, but the incredible greed of Starz and Disney has forced us to end the promotion early."

I wonder what happens with subscribers if 4 months into a 1-year gift it is revoked. Not exactly good PR with your customers...

 

[gatekeeper]

Disney is just a greed mogul.People need to stop going to DISNEY WORLD and helping this company.My family and I wont be going.The old saying still says(What goes around comes around.I hope some major company finds something to sue this company for..Hey DISNEY quit messing with DISH dammit..

 

[Juan]

DirecTV isn't controlled by Liberty.

still in the background pulling the strings

 

[ProfStata]

Wrong.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/06/directv-idUSN0624739620100406

 

[Voyager6]

I'm pretty sure that Liberty Media (or whatever it calls itself today) still owns DirecTv. It is just that Malone is no longer in direct control of DirecTv and his voting share is reduced to 3%.

 

[Anony55]

If Dish is footing the bill for all of the additional subscribers, then I can't see that there's a problem. But if they're trying to stretch out the "free weekend" thing for a whole year without any extra compensation to Starz, then I think they're in trouble...

Does anyone know which one of these is the case? In my mind, knowing that information would settle who's right and who's wrong.

Cheers

 

[CK SatGuy]

Here's a quote from the LA Times article that I posted earlier which seems to be the real reason why Charlie decided to give Starz away for free:

"However, in this case, the relationship between Starz and movie-rental service Netflix appears to be causing the bad blood with Dish, people familiar with situation said. Starz offers its content, including Disney movies, to Netflix, which Dish sees as a competitor and that is what led to the giveaway, these people said." (Don't know who "those people" are)

 

[JosephB]

I really don't see where Disney has any legal footing here. Disney gave Starz a license to show the movies on their services. I'm sure there were terms and conditions, but since DISH wasn't a party to that contract, there's no way that Disney can sue DISH under the terms of that contract. If there is any breach of the terms of that contract, Disney would only have an actionable case against Starz. In that case, though, I am willing to bet Disney could only sue Starz if they were complicit and did not try to rectify the situation, which I bet is one reason why Starz is suing DISH.

Now, where it gets interesting is that Starz is suing DISH. No one here knows what the terms of the Starz/DISH contract are, but even if DISH is paying Starz for every subscriber, there could be terms that prevent that. By giving away Starz for free, there is a risk of cheapening the brand. That is the kind of deal that you'd expect Starz to have to sign off on. However, on the other hand, the fact that DISH is advertising it as a special deal and that it's only for a year still maintains Starz's status as a premium channel and encourages people to sign up for DISH, get them hooked on Starz, and then keep paying when the year is up.

 

[cave1376]

Disneys parks are a joke. They charge a fortune for everything. Yet they want more money. The mouse saw the large payout that E* gave TIVO. Now the mouse wants to get more from E* to make his house bigger.

Does anybody know of an exterminator that specializes in rodents?

Sent from my HTC EVO using SatelliteGuys

 

[kikenovic]

Maybe E* will just have to blackout Disney movies. "This program is not available for viewing in your area. It may be available on your regional sports network" kinda thing.

 

[redelephants]

So if this is the new logic, then everytime E* has any free preview they will be sued. Disney can kiss it.

 

[JosephB]

So if this is the new logic, then everytime E* has any free preview they will be sued. Disney can kiss it.

I believe it's understood that this is a different circumstance from a free preview weekend. Even when it was a premium, The Disney Channel had free preview weekends.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Wrong.

UPDATE 1-John Malone to resign as DirecTV chairman | Reuters

Your wrong!

Liberty Still controls Directv!

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I'm pretty sure that Liberty Media (or whatever it calls itself today) still owns DirecTv. It is just that Malone is no longer in direct control of DirecTv and his voting share is reduced to 3%.

Yep, Liberty Media split into 2 different divisons, the Starz Group and the one that ownes Directv. That only happend within the last few years.

That also doesn't mean that D* has no ties with the starz side of the company either.

And E* is not "in Bed" with Liberty Media ,just because Encore was offerend in the top 180 or 250 pack. D* has Encore in a base pack too and D* also used to A'La'Carte Encore years ago as well.
So the "IN Bed" is meaning less and has no Value.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

So if this is the new logic, then everytime E* has any free preview they will be sued. Disney can kiss it.

Free Previews don't last for a year. ONLY Charlie does that crap! He did this with a number of channels over the course of the years.

Customers have channels for years and then drops them into a higher package and tell his customers its been a free preview for the past year. He did this with NFL network and a Number of others.

No doubt in my mind Charlie is pulling a fast on on Liberty Media and disney. He's a Snake!

 

[HDRoberts]

Free Previews don't last for a year. ONLY Charlie does that crap! He did this with a number of channels over the course of the years.

Customers have channels for years and then drops them into a higher package and tell his customers its been a free preview for the past year. He did this with NFL network and a Number of others.

No doubt in my mind Charlie is pulling a fast on on Liberty Media and disney. He's a Snake!

They do not last 3 months, either, but Disney and Starz seem to have no problem letting DirecTV give Starz away for 3 months to new customers.

We also have yet to learn if it really was Charlie's plan to extend the preview for a whole year. Perhaps he only intended to go it for 3 months (as may well be agreed to in the contract), and then start paying standard licences.

Also, the NFL was do to the NFL's indisgression. They signed an agreement with Dish saying they would be the exclusive home to a number of NFL games in exchange for lower package placement, then immediately broke the deal by selling games to local broadcasters.