Sorry, but I bad as it might be to work for Charlie and as bad as his company's transgressions may be, he is still T-ball league to the likes of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick running Uber like a pirate cab company OUTSIDE the law and seemingly far WORSE sexual harassment than Dish's one recorded instance. And when Uber refused to pay the California DMV nominal fee of $150 for each driver-less vehicle (total of 16 Uber cars), Uber just put the cars on the public street for use as if you or me did NOT pay our own DMV fees. DMV had to rescind existing permits and Uber had to concede and shut the program down until it applies and receives permits LAWFULLY. And the arrogant CEO Travis was WARNED about the DMV's requirements and that Uber would be shut down for not paying the fees, but he chose to operate as a PIRATE, anyway, in violation of the LAW. The same types of laws you and me obey and pay to LEGALLY operate our vehicles on public streets.
How about Comcast's infamous CEO Brian Roberts? That guy's company is telling TiVo owners that CableCard is no longer supported, which is a LIE and AGAINST the LAW. Only after people keep up the process of not giving up does Comcast seem to admit that CableCard is still supported, and through the process subscribers are encouraged to dump their TiVo and pay for a Comcast box, instead. Now Comcast is ILLEGALLY charging increased fees for CableCards--even though its own rate card states $0 in some cases (or in other cases only a few dollars). Of course the new anti-consumer FCC will do nothing, and may have even emboldened Comcast, for this new "CableCard not supported" attitude is very recent.
Let's not forget DirecTV when under CEO Mike White's reign, DTV was SUED by the FTC (and that's as bad as it can get--being sued by the FTC means your company practices are so bad that even the often "out-to-lunch" government can't ignore such behavior) for "Deceptive Practices" costing its subscribers significant amounts of money due to DTV's lack of "disclosure" in ads and verbally at the time of ordering the service or, in layman's terms, a LIE of omission at best, or complete lie at worst and so illegal that the FTC had to SUE over it. And no matter what is in writing, if your are told something verbally that is contrary to what is in the written contract and a company does not support the verbal portion of the contract, that is illegal. That is tough to prove, but thanks to printed ads and "inspections" (recording the verbal portions), it can come back to bite a company.
And then there is Darth Murdoch (Rupert) who operated so outside of decency and the law (a life time occupation for the scrappy ol Fox) that he had no choice but to shut down a long-lived UK newspaper, it got so bad. He had to testify at UK hearings, etc. possibly facing criminal charges himself at the time. Hardly a comparison to Dish and Charlie.
How about some of the POT and wireless companies who were caught charging bogus fees that were listed as "Taxes" when, in fact, no such taxes existed and none of that money went to any government? So where did the money for these "taxes" go? You guessed it! Into the pockets of those companies who sent out the bills.
There are many more examples, and while Dish deserves whatever it has coming to it if Dish does do the wrong thing or violate the law, but PLEASE, as bad as Charlie may be, he nor Dish do not even come close to the CEO's and companies cited above because in those cases it cost consumers or taxpayers real MONEY, and that is far worse than getting an unwanted phone call during dinner. Yet, all those CEO's and companies pretty much get away with it for less money than what was originally calculated as damages Dish was to pay for disturbing us with our mouths full. It's should be the reverse but like cats at the feeding bowl, we are not in a mood to be disturbed while chowing down; cheat us out of money with deceptive business practices, charge us phone "taxes" that are really fees, and listen to private phone messages and then publish the contents in a newspaper and WE ARE FINE WITH THAT. Like in that Carl's Jr. (or Hardee's ) TV commercial: "Don't bother me; I'm eating."
