Dish Distants, Again

The earliest believed date is 11 September. A Congressman has asked the parties try to come to an agreement by then. It is assumed the judge that must issue the injunction, as well as the parties involved, have decided to wait the 45 day request out.

The real issue is that a court will be forced to issue an injuction to terminate Dish Network's ability to retransmit distant networks to their entire customer base. Because Dish Network did not follow the rules and procedures for qualifying customers, it is believed that about half of Dish Network's distant network subscribers on are ineligible.

Keep in mind that Dish Network (nor DirecTV) have a contract to rebroadcast the distant network service. The only reason distant network service is available today is because the government granted a copyright license that allows Dish Network and DirecTV to copy any network station and retransmit it to the unserved, completely without a contract.

Congress passed a law on 29 November, 1999. The SHVIA describes the remedies for abuse. The court is only doing exactly what the law stated: cut everyone off when the abuse is that bad.

The problem is the half of Dish Network's subscriber base which is legally entitled to distant network service. Legitimate, qualified customers are being punished because of Dish Network's abuse.