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| Anonymous |
 Posted: 25-03-2003 11:37 Post subject: Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie |
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http://www.sierratimes.com/03/02/28/arpubmg022803.htm
| Quote: | On February 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization. The court reversed the 5,000 jury verdict in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast.
On August 18, 2000, a six-person jury was unanimous in its conclusion that Akre was indeed fired for threatening to report the station's pressure to broadcast what jurors decided was "a false, distorted, or slanted" story about the widespread use of growth hormone in dairy cows. The court did not dispute the heart of Akre's claim, that Fox pressured her to broadcast a false story to protect the broadcaster from having to defend the truth in court, as well as suffer the ire of irate advertisers.
Fox argued from the first, and failed on three separate occasions, in front of three different judges, to have the case tossed out on the grounds there is no hard, fast, and written rule against deliberate distortion of the news. The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.
In its six-page written decision, the Court of Appeals held that the Federal Communications Commission position against news distortion is only a "policy," not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation.
Fox aired a report after the ruling saying it was "totally vindicated" by the verdict.
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Last edited by Guest on 25-03-2003 11:54; edited 1 time in total |
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| Guest |
| Posted: 25-03-2003 16:03 Post subject: Rupert Murdoch, What A Shit |
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| Nice to know that the usual high standards of Fox News have been put on a sound legal footing. |
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Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 04:25 Post subject: Rupert Murdoch: Virgin on the ridiculous |
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I'm on Telewest and in serie of takeovers it was merge with NTL and then bought by beardy Branson's Virgin.
For a month or so they have been running ads about changes in services with relation to Sky but I hadn't paid it muh intention. Then they stopped running them and it was announced the other night that they were trying to reach a compromise which was up at midnight tonight.
On the stroke of midnight the channels went blank and a bit later were replaced by a great message about Murdoch being childish and taking his ball home with him.
| Quote: | BSkyB's basic channels withdrawn from Virgin Media
Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:56pm ET162
LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - BSkyB said on Thursday its basic channels, which offer shows such as "Lost" and "24," have been withdrawn from the newly-formed Virgin Media (VMED.O: Quote, Profile , Research) cable platform after the groups failed to agree a new carriage deal.
No Virgin Media officials were immediately available to confirm whether its customers had lost access to the channels.
A spokesman for James Murdoch-led BSkyB (BSY.L: Quote, Profile , Research) said they were withdrawn at around midnight (0000 GMT) following the expiry of an old agreement between the two companies.
"We're disappointed that we will now be denied access to cable TV homes," the spokesman said in a statement.
Speaking by telephone, he added: "We are ready to reopen negotiations with Virgin at any time."
The two sides, who are rivals in the highly competitive television, broadband and phone markets, had been locked in negotiations for several weeks but could not agree on terms.
The channel withdrawal comes less than a month after Virgin Media, the new name for cable group NTL, launched. It had promised to move on from its reputation of having poor customer service.
BSkyB had warned it would take a hit of up to 20 million pounds ($39.18 million) in operating profits for the remainder of the year to end June if it did not seal an agreement.
Analysts are mostly divided over who will come out worse from the dispute and over how many customers would leave Virgin Media in favour of Sky.
They have said BSkyB would have to attract around 150,000 new customers from Virgin Media to be better off. Sky's premium channels of sports and movies will not be affected. (Additional reporting by Deborah Haynes)
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved. |
Source
I thought I;d throw in Sky's report:
| Quote: | Cable Users Lose Channels
Updated: 02:39, Thursday March 01, 2007
Hundreds of thousands of cable television customers have lost some of their favourite channels after a row between Sky and Virgin Media.
Talks have broken down between the two sides in the dispute over how much Virgin Media - formerly known as NTL - pays Sky to screen its channels.
Virgin Media customers reported that Sky channels including Sky One and Sky News disappeared from their screens shortly after midnight this morning.
Both channels refused to make an official comment after the current contract between the two cable platforms expired at midnight.
Virgin Media viewers said former Sky channels had gone blank apart from a message reading "Old Sky".
It will come as a blow to fans of hit series such as 24 and Lost, who will now be unable to follow their favourite shows.
Sky One, Sky Travel, Sky News and Sky Sports News are the channels affected by the dispute.
Virgin's chief executive Steve Burch had previously said the impact of removing Sky's channels from its service would be "fairly minimal."
Talks between BSkyB chief James Murdoch and Virgin Media chief Steve Burch came to a standstill during a telephone conversation yesterday.
Sky has rejected Virgin Media's offer of arbitration and Virgin Media has rejected Sky's latest offer and confirmed it would not table a new offer of its own.
Sky has also proposed to retail its basic channels directly to Virgin Media customers if Virgin Media will provide access to its closed platform. |
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30400-1253715,00.html
Although Virign claim the impact will be "fairly minimal" it pisses on my chips as Sky One was one of the few cable channels to screen the kind of shows I want to watch. 
It will see people changing over the Sky and given Murdoch's recentish buying of enough shares in ITV Digital to ruin a takeover (which is being refered to the Monopolies Commision) it does seem that he is slowly crushing the competition.
Will Blair do anything or does he need Murdoch's support for the next election? |
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| WhistlingJack Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Total posts: 4297 Location: The Sewers of The Strand Age: 9 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 12:10 Post subject: Re: Rupert Murdoch: Virgin on the ridiculous |
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| Quote: | A spokesman for James Murdoch-led BSkyB (BSY.L: Quote, Profile , Research) said they were withdrawn at around midnight (0000 GMT) following the expiry of an old agreement between the two companies.
"We're disappointed that we will now be denied access to cable TV homes," the spokesman said in a statement. |
Read "We're disappointed that we will now be denied access to cable TV money..."
| Mighty_Emperor wrote: | | It will see people changing over the Sky and given Murdoch's recentish buying of enough shares in ITV Digital to ruin a takeover (which is being refered to the Monopolies Commision) it does seem that he is slowly crushing the competition. |
If rumours about the cracking of ITV Digital's encryption are true, they've been indulging in this sort of behaviour for years.
| Mighty_Emperor wrote: | | Will Blair do anything or does he need Murdoch's support for the next election? |
No and yes. |
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| ted_bloody_maul Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2003 Total posts: 4877 Location: Quester's Psykick Dancehall Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 12:52 Post subject: |
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This is what you'll get if you mess with us...
Branson condemns 'cynical' BSkyB
Sir Richard Branson lashed out at Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB yesterday, accusing the satellite TV group of a cynical attempt to control the British media by buying nearly a fifth of ITV.
The Virgin tycoon's attack sets the stage for a bitter struggle between the two businessmen over the fate of ITV, Britain's leading commercial broadcaster, which has been hit by dwindling advertising revenues and declining audiences.
continues
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1952327,00.html |
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| crunchy5 Great Old One Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Total posts: 1951 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 12:57 Post subject: |
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| James Murdoch is so right wing that he, I'm sure, would think that free health care was bad because it skews evolution, I heard him giving a radio interview once and he was frothing at the mouth about the iniquitous nature of the market wobbling affront to god that is the BBC licence fee. I fear the time when he gets full control of the Murdoch empire. |
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| sherbetbizarre Great Old One Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Total posts: 1344 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 14:24 Post subject: |
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Grr, no more Lost for me at the moment...
| Quote: | Virgin customers wake up to no Sky channels
The week-long war of words between Virgin Media and bitter rival BSkyB last night culminated in the satellite broadcaster's channels, including Sky One, being pulled from 3.35 million households.
The failure of the two sides to reach a deal meant fans of shows such as Lost, 24 and Battlestar Galactica were cut off halfway through the current season.
Sky's contract to provide its basic channels - Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Sports News and Sky News - ran out at midnight without a deal in place after a dispute over price. Virgin Media plans to reshuffle its service so its new video-on-demand channel, Virgin Central, will appear on channel 120 where Sky One used to be. Cable customers will still be able to watch Sky's premium channels such as Sky Sports.
The dispute went public last week when the Virgin chief executive, Steve Burch, attacked Sky for its negotiating stance over how much Virgin pays Sky for its content. Yesterday the two companies even argued over who had orchestrated a last-minute lunchtime phone call between Sky's James Murdoch and Virgin executives Mr Burch and Jim Mooney aimed at resuscitating talks.
On the call Virgin suggested appointing an independent arbitrator to help thrash out a new deal, but demanded this process include a recent contract to supply Sky's satellite customers with channels from Virgin's content arm, Flextech.
Last month Sky secured a dramatic cut in what it pays for the channels - including Living TV - slicing Virgin's take from 40p a month per subscriber per channel to less than 10p. Sky says it is asking for just over 90p per month per subscriber for its channels. Virgin Media's chairman Mr Mooney said the company, which is £5.7bn in debt, had been "coerced" into signing the Flextech deal.
"The facts are their channels have declined in popularity, ours have increased in popularity. The facts are they are trying to double their charge to us and cut our fee," he said. "That's why they don't want to go to arbitration because the facts are so lopsided against them an arbitrator would see through that."
Sky hit back, saying: "Virgin Media has declined to re-enter talks and is now seeking to reopen existing agreements." The satellite broadcaster added that it wants to be able to sell its channels directly to cable households. Mr Burch, said that idea was "ludicrous".
Virgin Media, announcing results showing it lost 37,000 customers in the last three months of 2006, admitted the Sky switch-off could cost it more viewers.
Away from the fight over the Sky channels, Virgin yesterday announced slightly higher than expected fourth quarter revenue of £1.08bn, up from £916m in the previous year, and pledged to increase its £200m of free cashflow by at least 50% this year and again in 2008.
Virgin Mobile added a mere 11,100 customers in the last three months of 2006, traditionally one of the most buoyant periods in the industry, compared with 122,700 in the third quarter. While it gained 70,000 subscribers willing to pay monthly - up from 30,000 in the previous three months - it lost ground in the pre-pay market. Virgin used to dominate the pre-pay sector but is now concentrating on higher value contract customers. |
SOURCE |
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| ghostdog19 |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 14:47 Post subject: |
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| Well, I'm sticking with Virgin. |
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| MaxMolyneux Photography Ninja Of The Night!
Great Old One Joined: 07 Jun 2005 Total posts: 1651 Location: Liverpool England United Kingdom Age: 27 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 15:02 Post subject: |
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| I never noticed only using the TV to play on my Ps2 and watch the Cartoon channels. |
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| crunchy5 Great Old One Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Total posts: 1951 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 15:26 Post subject: |
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| What's the betting illegal downloads of futurama and Simpson's increase massively I'll prob do it myself, like any addict deprived of my fix. |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13303 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 19:44 Post subject: |
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| It's probably cheaper to wait and buy the DVDs of the shows you miss when they're released. |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 21:22 Post subject: |
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I cuaght myself checking the TV schedules and thinking "Ah Rescue Me is on tonight I'll catch that" before realising the
Sk One has now een replaced by the Hallmark Channel which doesn't appear in my TV guide!! There is a funny message in big letters scrolling across the screen about foul play by Murdoch and them taking their bal home, That and the one on Sky News direct people here:
www.virginmedia.com/fairplay
Interesting news from that page:
| Quote: | Freeview customers set to lose channels too
Virgin Media customers are not the only people to feel the brunt of Sky's bullying tactics. Freeview customers are affected, too. Sky announced that it will be removing its channels from the Freeview service before the summer. |
A consumer advocate on the enws suggested the reason that Virgin are describing it as a only a minor issue is so people with under 12 months of contarct with them can't get out of it easily and it may need to go to the small claims court to get out of it. Those who have been with Telewest/NTL/Virgin for over a year can get out fairly easily although it may be that you still lose some cash.
Given home effectively Murdoch has bought up TV shows (Lost from Channel 4 being the most recent) there will be quite afew people switching over to keep up with thir favourite shows. Theya re probably going to be no worse off with Sky. I'll be damned before I give Murdoch any of my money!! |
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| Guest |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 21:35 Post subject: |
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Then Emps, you'll have to go without your fix! Murdoch ain't no fool!
What you need is someone* who can get you your missed episodes of "Buffy, The Hollyoaks Tedium, Er Medium, On Space Station 9" via the web. That's the future! So I've been told. By a friend. Not my friend.
If you look hard enough you'll find what your looking for.
*NOT ME! |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 01-03-2007 21:43 Post subject: |
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| gncxx wrote: | | It's probably cheaper to wait and buy the DVDs of the shows you miss when they're released. |
I bought the complete Buffy, on DVD, last week, €129.95. Much cheaper than satellite.  |
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| ghostdog19 |
| Posted: 02-03-2007 02:23 Post subject: |
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| Mighty_Emperor wrote: | | I'll be damned before I give Murdoch any of my money!! |
That's the spirit. Be strong, Emps. Don't give in to the dark side.
Now, picture Murdoch gloating over brand new shows and being asked which to buy, and in his best Palpatine voice croaking "all of them". |
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