Cablevision Piracy Award Overturned
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 11/1/2002 7:33:00 AM
A $30 million damage award assessed against cable pirates in favor of Cablevision Systems Corp. has been reversed by a federal appeals court in Illinois.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit faulted the lower court for refusing to compel Cablevision to produce security chief Bob Astarita for a deposition. Other security workers testified, and the court said Astarita's testimony was 'not relevant,' according to the ruling issued Oct. 29.
The case will be retried even though the defendants -- Frank Redisi Sr. and his son, also Frank -- are well known to piracy investigators. They helped to found a short-lived cable-pirates' lobbying group and have operated as Teleview Distributors and Omega Holdings. Their assets will remain frozen during the continuing court proceedings.
The eventual amount of the award is questionable. The appeals panel also faulted Cablevision's methodology, which was based on 1999 'Optimum Gold' package rates. The court noted that the thefts dated back to 1991, when the programming package was not available.
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