“Should a pay TV provider be legally required to offer a refund or credit if it loses a channel for a period of time due to a carriage dispute with its owner?

The United States Court of Appeals of the Eighth Circuit this month ruled unanimously that the answer is no, according to the National Law Review. A District Court judge held that the service contract between Dish and the customer would be “illusory” if the satcaster were allowed to keep the entire subscriber fee while certain advertised channels were missing. However, Dish appealed the ruling to the Eighth Circuit, which found that the contract would not be “illusory” because the satcaster provided the channels during most of the agreement, and wanted to continue offering them during the dispute. In addition, the appeals panel said Dish’s contract expressly states that it can change the channel lineup of any programming package at any time. ”

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