After literally years of pretrial motions and the complete folding of the Voom satellite networks in the US, DISH and Voom’s trial is set to get underway in the Supreme Court of NY on Wed. In today’s issue we give a rundown of each party’s position and explain the $100mln question.
 
Set to sunset on Oct 5 is the programming exclusivity ban, which keeps MSOs from making exclusive contracts that prevent their competitors from carrying satellite-delivered programming that they own. Anything can happen before then, but the FCC chmn has circulated an order that would not renew the prohibition for another 5 years.
 
The FCC unanimously adopted an order that relieves the telco-cable cross-ownership restrictions in region. As a result, CLEC acquisitions could become more attractive to cable as companies ramp up business service activity.
 
Buried in all the football games over the weekend is the premiere of “NHL Lockout,” due to labor conflicts between the league and the NHL Players’ Assoc. The league’s labor contract expired midnight Sat and no deal was reached by COB Mon.