The stakes just got higher for Dish Network in its long-running legal battle with Cablevision over its now defunct Voom TV service.
A judge yesterday ordered Dish to provide more data on its subscriber figures after Cablevision accused the satellite-TV company of lowballing its numbers, thereby reducing the potential damages in the case.
State Supreme Court Justice Richard Lowe ordered Dish to provide more disclosure and granted Cablevision’s legal team the right to perform two separate internal audits of Dish’s records.
“If what [Cablevision] asserts is anywhere near accurate, it’s the heart of the plaintiff’s damages case,” Lowe said, according to Bloomberg News.
The judge has already slammed Dish several times, accusing it of delaying tactics in hopes of getting a mistrial.
Cablevision sued Dish in 2008, claiming Dish breached their 15-year contract to offer Voom to its 14 million TV subscribers. The Long Island cable operator is seeking $2.4 billion in damages — a figure that could rise.
Cablevision contends that its Voom high-definition TV venture lost half a billion dollars when Dish pulled out of their deal to pay it a percentage of the fee charged to every Dish HD subscriber.
Dish lawyers have stated that only 40 percent of its 14 million subscribers get HD service. Cablevision believes the percentage is much higher since the industry standard is in the region of 70 percent.
Dish lawyers claim the company needed to get out because Cablevision didn’t spend $100 million on programming as agreed.
Cablevision has argued that the spending wasn’t limited to just programming and could go toward funding other aspects of the operation.
“Dish is facing an uphill battle,” said Susquehanna Financial litigation analyst, Thomas Claps. “The judge has gone out on a limb to scold Dish and its corporate conduct.”
A Dish spokesman declined comment as did a Cablevision spokeswoman.