Disney sues Dish again

[Tampa8]

It would be interesting if a Judge told Dish they can not deliver services they paid for, for free if they wish. I did not realize Starz was also part of the suit, I would have thought Dish would talk to them before making it free for a year. As mentioned, not giving an injunction bodes well for Dish.

 

[The Fat Man]

Following their line of reasoning, I should stop donating Disney toys and stuffed animals to my niece's kindergarten class, because even though I paid for it, I'm still devaluing their products by giving it away for free. "These children will wait for Mr. Fat Man (should look into changing my Sat Guys handle to that, kind of catchy) to just give the toy to them in their class, instead of running to our store and paying our prices!" And the now infamous "we request a injunction to stop donating toys."

OK, two somewhat different situations, but really how much of Starz's line-up consists of Disney movies? They make it sound as if Starz should be named Disney Starz. Trust me, you got to over charge the consumer for Toy Story 3 long before anyone saw it on Starz. Furthermore, how many providers give Encore as part of a cheap package? Comcast subs in my area get Encore for life just by signing up for digital cable. I know that movies take some time to get to Encore, but I know that I wait, knowing that I will eventually get to see it on Encore. So, if I didn't get a year free of Starz, I would just wait until Toy Story 3 arrives on Encore in late June or early July.

They need to give it a rest. Now it's time for me to sit and wait for the rebuttals.

 

[skyviewmark]

Let me first state that I am in Dish's corner on this one.. But The Mouse has a lot of clout.. ESPN, ABC, as well as the usual Disney Channels. They have already pulled The HD Versions of some channels.. The day they pull the HD Version of ESPN there is going to be widespread screaming and nashing of teeth right here on this board.. Everyone will be screaming for Charlie to kiss and make up with The Mouse.. And yelling when he doesn't.. I don't know when the contracts for any of this comes up, but sooner or later they will.. The Mouse has a lot of money.. Probably a lot more than Charlie.. I suspect The Mouse will loose this case in court.. But in the end he may still be holding all the cards in his 4 finger glove.. Prepare.....

 

[catnap1972]

The day they pull the HD Version of ESPN there is going to be widespread screaming and nashing of teeth right here on this board.. Everyone will be screaming for Charlie to kiss and make up with The Mouse..

Speak for yourself...I'll be sending Charlie a bottle of champagne as a thanks. Wish we could tell the mouse where they can stick ESPN (and it's $4 a month whether you watch or not stick-up)

 

[skyviewmark]

Speak for yourself...I'll be sending Charlie a bottle of champagne as a thanks. Wish we could tell the mouse where they can stick ESPN (and it's $4 a month whether you watch or not stick-up)

Maybe you should read my statement before passing condemnation on it.. First line.. "I am in Dish's Corner on this one".. But I am a retailer who deals with customers who are not going to like it if it happens.. And if you have been around these boards long enough you would know exactly what will happen.. People always like to say it's okay to stick it to the programmer UNTIL the program they want gets taken away.. Then they will be screaming at the top of their lungs..

 

[whatchel1]

Let me first state that I am in Dish's corner on this one.. But The Mouse has a lot of clout.. ESPN, ABC, as well as the usual Disney Channels. They have already pulled The HD Versions of some channels.. The day they pull the HD Version of ESPN there is going to be widespread screaming and nashing of teeth right here on this board.. Everyone will be screaming for Charlie to kiss and make up with The Mouse.. And yelling when he doesn't.. I don't know when the contracts for any of this comes up, but sooner or later they will.. The Mouse has a lot of money.. Probably a lot more than Charlie.. I suspect The Mouse will loose this case in court.. But in the end he may still be holding all the cards in his 4 finger glove.. Prepare.....

Many but not all catnap proves that just by his statement. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes though.

 

[CK SatGuy]

Just to be clear on a couple of things...

I just wanted to make sure everyone understands where we're at right now:
1. An NY judge has rejected Disney's request for an injunction against Dish, but that judge has not dismissed the case yet.
2. Starz's lawsuit against Dish is going to be held in Colorado. A Colorado judge has not ruled on that case yet.

So even though both Starz and Disney are practically suing Dish over the same thing, it's still two separates cases that are being held in two separate states. The Reuters article explains things: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/03/us-disney-lawsuit-idUSTRE7527FL20110603

 

[ggilbert]

Disney Injunction Request Vs. Dish Denied

Disney Injunction Request Vs. Dish Denied – Deadline.com

Disney lost its bid for a preliminary injunction against Dish Network today, with a New York District Court judge denying a motion that would have stopped the satellite company from offering a promotion for free access to Starz movie channels that include Disney films. Disney filed the request last month, saying the giveaway -- to celebrate Dish's 30th anniversary -- limits the value of its movies and is copyright infringement. Starz also has filed suit against Dish in the matter.

 

[mike123abc]

I just wanted to make sure everyone understands where we're at right now:
1. An NY judge has rejected Disney's request for an injunction against Dish, but that judge has not dismissed the case yet.
2. Starz's lawsuit against Dish is going to be held in Colorado. A Colorado judge has not ruled on that case yet.

So even though both Starz and Disney are practically suing Dish over the same thing, it's still two separates cases that are being held in two separate states. The Reuters article explains things: Judge won't stop Dish airing free Disney movies | Reuters

The Starz suit seems interesting. Starz does not seem to be suing for non payment, but that Dish is doing the payment instead of Dish's customers. They are unhappy because they are not a paid service on Dish this year?

Again it seems to be warped Hollywood reasoning that their brand is devalued because Dish is paying for it for a year instead of their customers. One would think that Starz would be happy to have an extra 10 million subs for a year, even if it was temporary.

 

[whatchel1]

And Disney is so nice to their workers too. This came in Morning Bridge today. "Pink slips will be flying as Walt Disney Studios plans to cut as much as 5% of its global workforce with as many as 250 jobs lost, mostly in Burbank."

 

[andrewj0781]

Wonder if Disney will sue my local cable company next? ( Atlantic Broadband) You get Stars included in their digital cable package. Wonder what terms they worked out to have Stars included?

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[dan188]

Good point.

 

[JTBenson]

And Disney is so nice to their workers too. This came in Morning Bridge today. "Pink slips will be flying as Walt Disney Studios plans to cut as much as 5% of its global workforce with as many as 250 jobs lost, mostly in Burbank."

I wouldn't see this as evidence of them not being nice to their workers. If they don't offer severance, then they are not nice, but would you rather a company keep 95% of it's workforce or risk losing all of it? If they dont make tough decisions , it can lead to that.

Now if they are raising executive salaries and giving out excessive bonuses while cutting jobs, then I would say you are right, but I don't know the facts.

 

[sethwell]

Wonder if Disney will sue my local cable company next? ( Atlantic Broadband) You get Stars included in their digital cable package. Wonder what terms they worked out to have Stars included?

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

I'm assuming that the price is included into that package, so it is not the same thing as here.

 

[Foxbat]

Coming to this late (as usual) but I've had the "Cinemax for $0.01" deal for the last couple of years. If I recall, I saw a couple of Disney movies on that. Is there a huge difference between "free" and "$0.01" that Disney would have not complained about "cheapening" before now?

 

[whatchel1]

Coming to this late (as usual) but I've had the "Cinemax for $0.01" deal for the last couple of years. If I recall, I saw a couple of Disney movies on that. Is there a huge difference between "free" and "$0.01" that Disney would have not complained about "cheapening" before now?

Sure Disney wasn't sue every time E* did something. It's all due to the fact that Disney is PO'd at E* due to not getting the double payment for the same program one in HD & 1 in SD.

 

[dan188]

I agree. The cinemax for a penny for a whole year had no issues. Disney is throwing a tantrum like 2 year old.

 

[CK SatGuy]

I wonder if this will affect the lawsuit

From PR Newswire:
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., July 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --Steve Beabout, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Starz Entertainment, announced that Michael Thornton has joined the company as Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs – Programming, Digital and Worldwide Distribution. Thornton will be based in Englewood at the company's suburban Denver corporate headquarters where he will be responsible for developing the strategic direction of business/legal affairs related to the acquisition of programming content for the Starz Entertainment linear channels, on-demand, and online services. Thornton will also oversee business/legal affairs for distribution of the Starz companies' content with online/broadband distributors, transactional VOD/EST, and international syndication of proprietary Starz Original programming and Starz Media content.
Thornton has served in several senior executive positions with legal and programming responsibilities during his career, and most recently at Disney/ABC Domestic Television as Executive Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs since 2005. Thornton oversaw multi-platform strategy and negotiations for post-theatrical distribution of The Walt Disney Studios' film output and the post-Network distribution of ABC Studios' television product.
Prior to that, Thornton was Senior Vice President, Programming Acquisitions for DIRECTV since 1999 where he led programming strategy, including the acquisition of all on-air acquired and original programming and negotiated successfully numerous network, local broadcast station, sports subscription, and one-off event deals. Prior to that, Thornton was Vice President, Programming for MediaOne where he oversaw negotiations, investments and relationships with all programming providers and was instrumental in setting strategies for MediaOne's international interests.
"Michael is a talented executive with a keen legal mind who will serve us well in this executive capacity," said Beabout. "Michael has done business with Starz in several of his previous endeavors and his counterparts were impressed consistently with his business acumen and ability to strike mutually beneficial business relationships. We are delighted to have him join our executive team with a wide range of responsibilities, including business affairs responsibilities for our programming acquisition, digital, and international syndication business efforts."
"I am very pleased to join Starz during this exciting time in the company's history, with opportunities for further expansion of its core premium pay TV, multiplatform, and global syndication businesses," said Thornton. "This is a tremendous opportunity to return to Colorado with a career challenge that draws upon many of my past professional experiences."
Thornton graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with an A.B. degree in Economics, and holds a Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law and an MBA in Entertainment Marketing and Finance from the Anderson Graduate School of Management, also at UCLA.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...tal-and-worldwide-distribution-125024044.html

Note: Sorry for the change if you were reading the previous one. I thought this article was better.
http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=4&article=61588

 

[whatchel1]

Looks like Disney now has a shill w/in Starz.

 

[jerryez]

Now if they are raising executive salaries and giving out excessive bonuses while cutting jobs, then I would say you are right, but I don't know the facts.

Normally, layoffs increase profit, which increases executive salaries and bonuses.