DISTANT NETWORK CHANNELS 241-248.. ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX are going away..
10/21/06
DISH NETWORK LOST ITS LATEST APPEAL TO KEEP DISTANT NETWORK CHANNELS. According to the latest and final court ruling (unless Dish Network appeals to the US Supreme Court and the court accepts the case which is extremely doubtful) Dish Network must stop providing distant network channels to ALL subscribers as of December 1, 2006.. Yes, ALL subscribers. Waivers, grandfathers or other ancestors, friend with the King of the Universe will not matter. Yes, even you. If this ruling holds (and it should) NO ONE subscribing to Dish Network will be allowed to keep distant network channels, period. This ruling has no effect on PBS, CW Network or Super Stations, Univision, Azteca, Telefutura, Pax/"i", Telemundo, TBN or any other broadcast network's agreements with Dish Network. It only affects ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. CBS HD should also be unaffected as this was a contract between CBS and Dish. There is quite a bit of confusion on this particular channel that only time will clear up.
ORDER OF PERMANENT INJUNCTION THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon remand by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Pursuant to the Eleventh Circuit mandate [DE-995], remanding this case to this Court with instructions to enter a nationwide permanent injunction pursuant to the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988, as amended by the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999, it is
ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that, effective December 1, 2006, Defendants Echostar Communications Corporation (d/b/a DISH Network), EchoStar Satellite Corporation, Satellite Communications Operating Corporation and DirectSat Corporation (collectively "Echostar"), their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and those persons in active concert or participation with Echostar are hereby PERMANENTLY ENJOINED AND RESTRAINED from the secondary transmission, pursuant to the statutory license set forth in Section 119, Title 17, United States Code, of a performance or display of a word embodied in a primary transmission of any network station affiliated with ABC, Inc., CBS Broadcasting, Inc., Fox Broadcasting Company, or National Broadcasting Co. For the purposes of this permanent injunction, the terms "secondary transmission," "primary transmission," "primary network station," and "network station" shall have the meanings given those terms in Section 119, Title 17, United States Code.
DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida, this 20th day of October, 2006.
bump...surprised that nobody is interested in this!..its a biggie!...many people watch these channels, but won't after 1 Dec!...this does apply to all testers and peeps , NOT just subscribers!
WNBC TV 4 (NBC) New York SAP 10/20 Court Ruling: No Distant Network Channels starting 12/1 NBC 241 20 119° E*7 . . Local NYC, Dish Nets (Mapped 241, 8102)
KNBC TV 4 (NBC) Los Angeles SAP 10/20 Court Ruling: No Distant Network Channels starting 12/1 NBC-W 242 15 119° E*7 . . Local L.A., Dish Nets (Mapped 242, 8002)
WCBS TV 2 (CBS) New York 10/20 Court Ruling: No Distant Network Channels starting 12/1 CBS 243 20 119° E*7 . . Local NYC, Dish Nets (Mapped 243, 8101)
KCBS TV 2 (CBS) Los Angeles 10/20 Court Ruling: No Distant Network Channels starting 12/1 CBS-W 244 15 119° E*7 . . Local L.A., Dish Nets (Mapped 244, 8001)
WABC TV 7 (ABC) New York SAP 10/20 Court Ruling: No Distant Network Channels starting 12/1 ABC 245 20 119° E*7 . . Local NYC, Dish Nets (Mapped 245, 8100)
KABC TV 7 (ABC) Los Angeles SAP 10/20 Court Ruling: No Distant Network Channels starting 12/1 ABC-W 246 15 119° E*7 . . Local L.A., Dish Nets (Mapped 246, 8000)
WNYW TV 5 (Fox) New York SAP 10/20 Court Ruling: No Distant Network Channels starting 12/1 FOX 247 20 119° E*7 . . Local NYC, Dish Nets (Mapped 247, 8103)
KTTV TV 11 (Fox) Los Angeles 10/20 Court Ruling: No Distant Network Channels starting 12/1 FOX-W 248 15 119° E*7 . . Local L.A., Dish Nets (Mapped 248, 8003)
So will we b able to get these channels thru rabbit ears.??
Secondly are these channels completely being stopped or just different feeds of these channels are being stopped!! i mean will i still get my local cbc, my local nbc!!
10-24-06 EchoStar Communications Corp. said Monday it will appeal an injunction issued last week that would bar it from selling out-of-market network affiliate feeds to subscribers.
The satellite TV provider also said it may turn to Congress for help in reversing the injunction.
Issued Oct. 20 by a District Court judge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the injunction could affect as many as 800,000 subscribers of EchoStar's DISH Network, according to Craig Moffett, senior analyst for New York-based Sanford C. Berstein & Co. LLC. The injunction goes into effect Dec. 1.
Moffett estimates the ruling could cost EchoStar approximately $50 million a year in lost revenue and possibly create higher churn with customers. He said its top rival in the satellite TV business, DirecTV, is likely to benefit because the companies share most of their customer base in rural areas where cable is not an option.
At issue is EchoStar carrying ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX channels that originate outside communities where subscribers lives. The litigation doesn't involve subscribers receiving channels in their own towns via satellite.
The lawsuit was filed in Miami in 1998, and EchoStar argued carrying distant network programming didn't violate the networks' copyrights.
EchoStar reached a settlement in 2002 with ABC and NBC, and two years later with CBS, but the litigation between EchoStar and affiliates of ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX continued.
The company announced in August it would pay $100 million to settle the litigation filed against it by ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX affiliates, but a lawsuit with 25 stations owned by the FOX Network continued.
Littleton-based EchoStar (NASDAQ: DISH) has six weeks to appeal the decision or to get assistance from congressional leaders. A brief, post-election session of Congress begins Nov. 13.
In a statement, EchoStar said it would "continue to do everything possible to prevent consumers from losing their distant network channels," including asking Congress to clarify its statutory language and appealing the decision.
EchoStar said it will take numerous steps to protect customers from losing access to their channels. ----------------------------------------------------
10-24-06 Judge Rejects DISH Network TV Settlements
Despite a U.S. District Court injunction issued here Friday, EchoStar said it will seek congressional assistance allowing it to continue serving distant network broadcasts to eligible subscribers.
In issuing the injunction, the court rejected a proposed $100 million settlement between EchoStar and affiliates of the ABC, NBC and CBS television networks. The judge said statutory language required the settlements be ignored.
EchoStar said the action, which is to take effect Dec. 1, could impact up to 800,000 subscribers. The injunction barred the company from delivering out-of-market network broadcasts from such areas as New York and Los Angeles, into mostly rural markets that are out of reach of local network TV affiliates. ----------------------------------------------------
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2006--EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH) announced today that it has settled its nine year litigation with the ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox Affiliate Associations.
Under terms of the settlement, EchoStar agreed to expand its industry leading local network channel by satellite service from approximately 165 markets, to 175 markets by the end of 2006, offering over 95 percent of the U.S. population more fully effective competition to cable. EchoStar also agreed to pay the Affiliate Associations $100 million to protect its subscribers from the potential shut off of their distant network channels.
Distant channels are ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox network channels that originate from a market outside the community in which the subscriber lives. The litigation does not involve, and there is no danger, that consumers could lose their local ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox network channels, or any of the other great programming available from EchoStar's DISH Network. While EchoStar has over 12 million subscribers, less than one million of those customers receive distant network channels. As part of the settlement, EchoStar agreed to re-qualify its distant network subscribers and terminate those channels later this year to the small percentage of customers who are not eligible to receive them today.
During the nine year course of litigation, EchoStar previously settled with hundreds of TV stations and station groups, including the ABC, NBC and CBS networks. With today's announcement, EchoStar has reached settlements with almost 800 total stations. EchoStar had hoped and expected to resolve the dispute with all remaining litigants, but late last week Fox Network declined EchoStar's universal settlement offer and pulled out of the discussions. Consequently, litigation with approximately 25 Fox owned-and-operated stations continues. Though unlikely, it is possible Fox's last minute tactic could derail the entire settlement and force EchoStar to seek legislation to protect its subscribers from disruption.
The settlement is contingent on confirmation by the Federal District Court in Florida.
LITTLETON, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 2003 EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH) is pleased that a Florida court has found that EchoStar's current network channel qualification policies are in substantial compliance with copyright laws. We are also pleased that the court rejected the outrageous attempt by broadcasters to try to force EchoStar to terminate local and distant network channels to all customers. Importantly, the decision today does not impact any DISH Network customers who are receiving their local ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX network channels by satellite. No damages were awarded by the court.
"This has been a long and hard fought legal case that attempts to balance the rights of broadcasters and consumers," said Charles Ergen, chairman and CEO of EchoStar. "We look toward moving forward with broadcasters by continuing to add local cities and to make sure that all sides honor the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) of 1999."
This case started in October 1998 when EchoStar asked the Court to clarify and approve procedures for qualifying subscribers for distant network channels. EchoStar is disappointed that it has taken almost 5 years to get this ruling and that the court determined certain EchoStar methods are not allowed. Specifically, the court found that when qualifying distant network subscribers, EchoStar may only use one data base and that interference from other broadcast stations cannot be considered. As a result, EchoStar must re-qualify its distant network channel customers. This may result in the potential loss of certain distant network channels to less than 10 percent of EchoStar's customer base. EchoStar will appeal several issues, including the right of customers to be grandfathered to receive distant network channels as provided under the SHVIA.
Ryerson WTF, what going on ?? I though you were MR.SAT NIGHT LIVE,or COMEDY CENTRAL but i didn't know you are MR.CNN too.. or can i call you "MR.CNN" now..LOL..
