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Pay TV
loses fight
against
'decoders'
DETROIT (UPI)-Two suburban
Detroit men who sell "decoder" kits to
unscramble pay television signals can
continue peddling the program-pirating
devices under a federal court ruling.
U.S. District Judge Robert DeMascio
said the Federal Communications Act
of 1934 makes no provision for civil
remedies in such cases and denied an.
injunction sought by National Subscrip-
tion Television against the pair.
IT WAS THE second such setback in
a week for the pay TV firm. A federal
judge in California ruled last week NST
does not have a monopoly on decoding
its signals simply because it has an
FCC license to transmit thosesignals.
NST operates in Michigan under the
name ON-TV, which transmits
programs to 40,000 Detroit-area sub-
scribers over WXON-TV after 8 p.m.
For a $22.50 monthly fee, subscribers
get movies, sports, and other special
events without commercial interrup-
tioif.
Robert Moser, 36, of Allen Park, and
Philip Westbrok, 36, of Troy, have been
selling decoder kits for $150 that enable
non-subscribers' to unscramble ON-
TV's signals and get the firm's
programs for free.
ON-TV SUED the two men, but
DeMascio on Wednesday rejected the
firm's requests for a preliminary in-
junction and a continuation of a tem-
porary restraining order.
Robert Hurlbert, attorney for ON-TV,
said he would appeal DeMascio's
decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in Cincinnati by the end of this
week.
Since DeMasacio's ruling applied
only to civil action, Assistant U.S. At-
torney Carl Marlinga said the Justice
Department would decide by Monday
whether to proceed with criminal
charges against the pair.
"Or we might decide to drop the
criminal charges completely," he said.
Marlinga said Detroit is the only place
in the country where criminal charges
have ,been brought against decoder
manufacturers and distributors.
Patrick Kerich, general manager and
chief operating officer of ON-TV in
Detroit, said he was "very disappoin-
ted" by the judge's decision. - 0
"We've spent over $7 million in the 14
months we've been in operation in
Michigan and we haven't made any
money yet," he said. "This court loss
could have a very dramataic effect on
our business."
ENERGY.
We ;an't
afford to
waste it.