Breaking News?

[jcrash]

Rumor has it there was a Court Ruling about distant networks or something this afternoon. Anyone have something more concrete? Anyone? Bueller?

[N2Tronix]

EchoStar Avoids Death Penalty in Miami

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=120974&display=breakingNews

A federal judge in Miami has agreed with CBS and Fox that EchoStar Communications Corp. sold copyright-protected network programming to ineligible customers, but the judge did not issue the so-called death penalty that would have required EchoStar to terminate retransmission of local TV stations nationwide, sources said Wednesday.

U.S. Judge William P. Dimitrouleas issued his decision late Tuesday afternoon, marking another key event in a multiyear legal battle between EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen and CBS, Fox and hundreds of network affiliates.

The impact of the ruling was not immediately clear. However, it appeared that Dimitrouleas has issued orders to EchoStar that will likely require the company to terminate distant-network-signal service to thousands of subscribers.

Those who are cut off would be eligible to buy a local-TV-signal package from EchoStar, assuming that they live in one of the 64 local markets the direct-broadcast satellite provider currently serves.

EchoStar was expected to release a statement Wednesday.

The National Association of Broadcasters was not a party in the case, but many of its member stations were. DirecTV Inc. dropped out of the case after settling with broadcasters.

An NAB spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

[FTA Michael]

The E* press release, with its positive spin that locals customers are not affected, noted that:

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.

Full press release here: http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=dish&script=410&layout=-6&item_id=421275