341

Warner Bros Joins Disney In Suing Sling TV For Making Streaming Video Cheaper And More Convenient (www.techdirt.com)

submitted 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) by themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

41 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Earlier this month we noted how Disney and ESPN had sued Sling TV for the cardinal sin of actually trying to innovate. Sling TV’s offense: releasing new, more convenient day, weekend, or week-long shorter term streaming subscriptions that provided an affordable way to watch live television.

These mini-subscriptions, starting at around $5, have already proven to be pretty popular. But, of course, it challenges the traditional cable TV model of getting folks locked into recurring (and expensive) monthly subscriptions. Subscriptions that often mandate that you include sports programming many people simply don’t want to pay for.

So of course Time Warner has now filed a second lawsuit (sealed, 1:25-mc-00381) accusing Dish Network of breach of contract. In the complaint, Warner Bros lawyer David Yohai argues that this kind of convenience simply cannot be allowed:

“The passes fundamentally disrupt this industry-standard model by allowing customers to purchase access to the most sought-after programming, such as major sports events, essentially a la carte for a fraction of the cost that the consumer would have had to pay to watch the event on a pay-per-view basis. For example, a sports fan could simply purchase a day pass and watch select programming, such as a highly popular sports game, without purchasing a month-long subscription or paying a higher pay-per-view fee.”

Not disruption and convenience!

top 41 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] DarthAstrius@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 hours ago

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

[-] jason_is_back@tucson.social 1 points 2 hours ago

⛵🌊

🎶Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me🎶

🎶We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot🎶

[-] MangioneDontMiss@feddit.nl 8 points 5 hours ago

you know whats cheaper than sling? VPN!

[-] JakenVeina@midwest.social 11 points 7 hours ago

There's maybe a bit of an argument here if Sling is subsidizing their low prices with losses or debt or revenue from other projects. And let's be real here... that's absolutely what they're doing, cause that's what they ALL do. Offer services at unsustainable prices, in the hope of cornering a chunk of the market, and exploiting it for profit, later.

[-] Fedegenerate@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 9 hours ago

Warner bros joins Disney in the "shit I'm going to avoid giving money to" list

[-] chisel@piefed.social 42 points 15 hours ago

Sling couldn't have asked for a better marketing campaign

[-] Zink@programming.dev 5 points 6 hours ago

I was actually going to comment that I now know about this cheap option thanks to the lawsuit, lol.

I don't watch live TV because I value my time, but every once in a while there's a reason to tune into that one thing.

[-] LoafedBurrito@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 16 hours ago

This is so petty and a perfect example of why american capitalism is horrible and the government does nothing to control corporations or monopolies.

[-] november@piefed.blahaj.zone 16 points 14 hours ago

The passes fundamentally disrupt this industry-standard model by allowing customers to purchase access to the most sought-after programmin

Wait wait wait, I thought disruption was good? 🤔

[-] arararagi@ani.social 9 points 11 hours ago

Only when Silicon Valley does it to someone else!

[-] falseWhite@programming.dev 97 points 20 hours ago

"For example, a sports fan could simply purchase a day pass and watch select programming, such as a highly popular sports game, without purchasing a month-long subscription or paying a higher pay-per-view fee."

WOW. The greed is insane! What total pieces of sh*t! They're not even hiding it

[-] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 23 points 12 hours ago

To paraphrase:

"For example, someone could purchase a single sandwich, instead of a loaf of bread, several pounds of meat and cheese, various produce items, and a few jars of condiments."

Do they not see how dumb they sound!?

[-] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 58 points 19 hours ago

They're suing over the creation of competition in the market? Certainly an interesting strategy. I hope WB, Disney, and every other scum-sucker that thinks suing is acceptable gets raked across the coals.

[-] suzucappo@lemmy.ml 15 points 14 hours ago

This is suing for the ability to price fix.

They said it without directly saying it. They want to be able to price fix to keep their investors happy and someone is now stepping on the toes of the investors and they want to force sling to raise their price or pay them (mafia tactics) to continue operating.

Any company involved in this lawsuit should be forced to provide their subscription to all current users for free for the next 2-5 years or shutter their streaming service indefinitely.

[-] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 hours ago

I know what it's about. Best part is that at an entry fee of $5, Sling aren't even undercutting the market enough to allow an anti-competition lawsuit against them. So long as Sling can afford the lawyer fees, a dismissal and reversal should be a cake walk.

[-] half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 17 hours ago

Yeah, this sure sounds like the "free market" correcting itself as these people love to prattle on about.

[-] Fyrnyx@kbin.melroy.org 17 points 19 hours ago

The only competition they want to have, is basically when they put their acquisitions against eachother like fighting with toy soldiers and see who can impress their corporate masters the most. It's sickening.

[-] sfxrlz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 95 points 23 hours ago

The quote is chefs kiss they’re not even trying to hide that shit. Imagine you could watch a sports event without getting virtually mugged

[-] aramis87@fedia.io 53 points 22 hours ago

The passes fundamentally disrupt this industry-standard model

Funny how they didn't care about how streaming in general disrupted cable. Or how cable disrupted broadcast. Or how tv disrupted radio ...

[-] antipiratgruppen@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

"Video Killed The Radio Star", even, was distributed in Canada and Brazil by WEA [Warner, Elektra, Atlantic], according to Discogs. Interesting!

EDIT: But wait for their next big release with a more aggressive tone: "Sling TV Pissed Off Conglomerates"...

[-] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 22 points 20 hours ago

So it's the lightbulb syndicate again eh?

[-] blueworld@piefed.world 7 points 17 hours ago

I always wonder why people venerate Edison so much. He did innovate, but man was he a shifty barron.

[-] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 1 points 2 hours ago

Edison's lightbulb invention story makes for a really good rugged individual story. Dude keeps trying after 400 failures finally finds the one that worked and becomes rich and famous for it

[-] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 36 points 21 hours ago

i ask everyone i meet if they've accepted their lord and saviour jellyfin into their lives.

[-] chisel@piefed.social 6 points 17 hours ago

Wake me up when Jellyfin does live sports

[-] teft@piefed.social 8 points 17 hours ago

It already does. Just google iptv on jellyfin and find one of the articles that teaches you how to load a .m3u into jellyfin. Boom live tv.

[-] Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com 1 points 11 hours ago

Jellyfin can use .m3u playlists for live TV. It’s a bit of work to get it going, but it is possible.

[-] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 14 hours ago

It's a little annoying to get going but it's doable.

[-] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 7 points 20 hours ago

I pray to no false gods. But I do cherish Jellyfins daddy Emby. I would probably use Jellyfin but I have a lifelong emby paid from donating when they first took over MB.

[-] Cerothen@lemmy.ca 2 points 19 hours ago

I too have lifetime Emby and still use it today. Media browser renamed to Emby. They took the M and B from the old name to get the new one.

[-] remon@ani.social 2 points 19 hours ago

Wrong prophet but I like the religion.

[-] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com 58 points 23 hours ago

This is basically mafia. Boycott them, people!

[-] Fyrnyx@kbin.melroy.org 9 points 19 hours ago

I expect them to come after Pluto and Tubi in the future...

We can't have nice things. Either those two get sued or outright bought.

Also, choke on a dick, Yohai, you fucktard.

[-] kbal@fedia.io 7 points 18 hours ago

Business idea: Get subscriptions to Disney and ESPN streaming services, then let other people buy access to those accounts for one day at a time. You'd log in for them and give them the session cookie, or something like that. Shouldn't be too hard to find a country in which that isn't breaking any laws, although I'm guessing it's probably not the USA.

[-] chisel@piefed.social 5 points 17 hours ago

It's certainly breaking TOS, so the country you're in doesn't matter.

[-] kbal@fedia.io 7 points 17 hours ago

I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect that you may be overestimating the extent to which every piece of bullshit inserted into a TOS document that nobody reads is universally enforceable.

[-] chisel@piefed.social 3 points 15 hours ago

It's not a legal issue. They'd just shut down any accounts doing this. They already detect and shut down account sharing and this is just a variant of that. No law or government intervention necessary.

[-] kbal@fedia.io 3 points 14 hours ago

One could make it technically somewhat difficult to shut down, but better yet would be to get some timely government intervention, on the side of defending our rights to do such things on the same kind of principle as the well-established doctrine of first sale.

[-] FunctionallyLiterate@lemmy.ca 16 points 22 hours ago

Normally I'd say Sling didn't have a prayer under this administration, but Disney has pissed everybody off - including the Grand Cheeto - so I'm just gonna go stock up on some popcorn...