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AT&T and DirecTV colluded in an illegal plot that kept Dodgers games off the air, DOJ lawsuit ...
The Washington Post ^ | November 2, 2016 | Brian Fung

Posted on 11/02/2016 11:51:48 AM PDT by EveningStar

Full title: AT&T and DirecTV colluded in an illegal plot that kept Dodgers games off the air, DOJ lawsuit alleges


AT&T and DirecTV acted as ringleaders in an illegal plot against the Dodgers Channel that kept Los Angeles sports fans from watching their favorite team on television, according to a major lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Justice Department.

The anti-collusion suit alleges that DirecTV -- and its corporate parent, AT&T -- shared private negotiating information in 2014 with other TV providers, including Cox Communications and Charter Communications, in order to gain a collective advantage over Time Warner Cable, which was selling licenses to air the Dodgers Channel on other networks. By simultaneously agreeing not to carry the channel, each TV provider could breathe easier knowing their customers would not be able to switch to a provider that did carry live Dodgers games, according to the suit.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: att; california; collusion; departmentofjustice; directv; dodgers; dodgerschannel; doj; justicedepartment; lawsuit; losangeles; southerncalifornia; spectrum; sportsnetla; timewarnercable
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1 posted on 11/02/2016 11:51:48 AM PDT by EveningStar
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To: 5th MEB; ab01; AgThorn; al baby; BAW; bboop; BenLurkin; Bob J; Bon of Babble; BunnySlippers; ...
SoCal Ping!

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Attention Southern Californians



Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!

If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.

2 posted on 11/02/2016 11:52:25 AM PDT by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar
And the funds/fines for not fighting prosecution
will go to : Gun Control, Planned Parenthood, ACORN, etc.,
3 posted on 11/02/2016 11:59:04 AM PDT by Tilted Irish Kilt ("Everything HRC touches she kind of screws up with hubris.”- Colin Powell)
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To: EveningStar

The DOJ makes this announcement and attempts to shove all of Illary’s crimes under the rug? Pendejos...


4 posted on 11/02/2016 12:04:51 PM PDT by Navin Johnson
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To: EveningStar

Gee, is the entire COUNTRY crooked??


5 posted on 11/02/2016 12:06:59 PM PDT by ZULU (We are freedom's safest place!!!!)
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To: ZULU

YEP


6 posted on 11/02/2016 12:09:55 PM PDT by easternsky
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To: ZULU

Their CEO Randall Stevens believes in Black Lives Matter. Probably doesn’t want them to attack their techs.


7 posted on 11/02/2016 12:10:42 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: EveningStar
Even MLB streaming on-line blocked out Dodgers for local fans .. An on-line account allowed users to watch any live MLB game except for teams that played in subscribers home town... why would people want to watch their home town rival teams and not their own ?
8 posted on 11/02/2016 12:13:25 PM PDT by seastay
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To: seastay

And now Vin Scully is gone. There is no price or money that can bring back those lost games.


9 posted on 11/02/2016 12:26:13 PM PDT by Luke21
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To: EveningStar

“As many as 3 million homes in the Los Angeles area lack access to the Dodgers Channel, known formally as SportsNet LA.”

“In offering licenses to air Dodgers games, Time Warner Cable initially tried to charge other TV providers $4.90 a month per subscriber for the rights, according to the Los Angeles Times. Facing opposition from DirecTV and others, TWC cut the price in March to $3.50.”

This can be views as DirecTV and the other cable providers were trying to keep their customer costs down. The Dodgers channel was trying to charge per cable subscriber, not per Dodger channel viewer. Under that scenario, even people who had no interest in viewing the Dodgers would be see their monthly cable bill increase to pay for the unwanted, new Dodgers channel.

$4.90 per month X 3,000,000 subscriber = $14,700,000 per month in revenue.

If the Dodger channel were not forced on each cable subscriber, and were only limited to people who wanted to view the Dodgers, and were willing to go to the effort of signing up for the channel and paying for privilege, the revenue picture for the Dodger channel would be much bleaker.


10 posted on 11/02/2016 12:28:23 PM PDT by jeannineinsd
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To: EveningStar

$5 a month for just the Dodgers from April to October.

No Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Ducks or even Angels...


11 posted on 11/02/2016 12:53:55 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: seastay
why would people want to watch their home town rival teams and not their own ?

Many have favorite teams out-of-town. They grew up there and moved or otherwise developed such an affinity. That's why when you attend a ballgame in your hometown there is always a minority who are rooting visibly and vocally for the visitors--and trying not to get beaten-up by the hometown fanatics.

I'm just the opposite: living in LA, I became a Dodger fan at age seven in 1956, and two years later they moved here!

12 posted on 11/02/2016 12:58:51 PM PDT by Hebrews 11:6 (Do you REALLY believe that (1) God IS, and (2) God IS GOOD?)
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To: ZULU
Gee, is the entire COUNTRY crooked??

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

13 posted on 11/02/2016 1:01:47 PM PDT by Hebrews 11:6 (Do you REALLY believe that (1) God IS, and (2) God IS GOOD?)
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To: jeannineinsd

Can’t get the PAC-12 network on DirecTV either. Of course for the first time in 15 years the Huskie are decent and they have had only 3 out 8 games on channels that I get.


14 posted on 11/02/2016 1:11:38 PM PDT by shotgun
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To: shotgun

I know. I can only watch about a third of ASU games this year and it sucks. Wish I hadn’t given up my season tickets in 2009.


15 posted on 11/02/2016 1:16:54 PM PDT by Prince of Space (UNBORN LIVES MATTER!)
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To: EveningStar

AT&T is engaged in an illegal agreement with my building here in Miami to deny us the right to use satellite dishes. Upon moving in to the building, we were given a lease agreement that said that we had a right, under federal law, to have a satellite dish for our own use, subject to the restrictions in the “Satellite Addendum.” However, one of the lines in the satellite addendum that they made us sign says “You may install ______ dishes.”

The building management pre-fills that line with “0” and they will not allow Dish Network or DirecTV on the premises.


16 posted on 11/02/2016 1:32:57 PM PDT by RightFighter (This space for rent)
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To: Hebrews 11:6

And the Dodgers proceeded to black out on TV all of major-league baseball from L.A. except for the All Star Game and World Series and 9 games from San Francisco. 9 games per year on L.A. TV. That went on for a long time.

My ancient mother lives in San Diego and Time Warner blacked out the Padres games for two or three years. She just got them back last year.

SoCal baseball fans have a long experience with not getting to watch their teams on TV.


17 posted on 11/02/2016 1:40:48 PM PDT by hanamizu
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To: Hebrews 11:6

Seems like the current crop of “all” has exceeded most folks expectations with their special gift to do W-R-O-N-G.


18 posted on 11/02/2016 2:23:18 PM PDT by ptsal
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To: EveningStar

Just when I thought no good could come from those two companies.


19 posted on 11/02/2016 3:18:05 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: hanamizu
You omitted the Saturday Game of the Week (Buddy Blattner and Ol' Diz!), or did that go away in '58? But your point is entirely valid. I used to enjoy live home game telecasts of the AAA LA Angels in '56-'57 (Steve Bilko!), so I was spoiled.

How I used to look forward to those too-few Candlestick telecasts! Every pitch was shown from behind home plate--no one had yet thought of a center field zoom camera--which was fine for seeing the big downward break on Sandy's curve and offered an excellent closeup of Marichal whacking Roseboro on his helmetless noggin with a bat but was limiting otherwise, although we didn't yet realize it. Infrequent servings of thin gruel seem like a feast to a starving man. Or, as my father used to say, having both lived through the Great Depression and then moved through shattered Germany as a GI at the end of WW2: "If you're hungry enough, you'll eat anything."

20 posted on 11/02/2016 3:37:22 PM PDT by Hebrews 11:6 (Do you REALLY believe that (1) God IS, and (2) God IS GOOD?)
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