Sept. 23 Court Deadline Set for Filing Claim in Cablevision Set-top Class-Action Suit

Sept. 23 is the deadline for filing a claim on a class-action lawsuit against Cablevision alleging Sherman Antitrust Act violations in its set-top box policies. In an order Thursday, U.S. District Judge Madeline Arleo of Newark, New Jersey, certified the class in Gary Marchese et al vs. Cablevision and set the claim filing deadline in the 2010 suit, which alleged Cablevision tied the sale of some video services to rental of a Cablevision set-top. The order said the class includes all Connecticut, New Jersey and New York residents who subscribed to Cablevision and paid a monthly set-top lease fee between April 30, 2004, and now. Arleo also signed off on the proposed forms of notice to the settlement class about a proposed settlement, with those notices to be sent by Cablevision within 110 days. A hearing on final approval is scheduled for Sept. 12, according to the order. In a class-action settlement agreed to by the plaintiffs and Cablevision in December, Cablevision agreed to activate any certified third-party set-tops bought by a subscriber from a third-party retailer and to provide "reasonable cooperation and ... technical assistance to interested manufacturers" of third-party set-tops. Cablevision in the settlement agreement also agreed to give current subscribers a free, four-month subscription to over-the-top SundanceNow service regardless of whether they file a claim form. Subscribers who had tenure of 36 months or less will be entitled to a $20 credit, five free months of multiroom DVR service, free lease of an additional Cablevision set-top for eight months or a free three-month subscription to Starz/Encore, according to the settlement agreement. Claimants with 36 to 72 months tenure are entitled to a $30 credit, eight months of the DVR, 13 months of an additional Cablevision set-top, or three months of Starz/Encore and of Showtime. Claimants with more than 72 months of tenure are entitled to a $40 credit, 11 months of the DVR, 18 months of an additional set-top, or three months of Starz/Encore and Showtime plus four months of Optimum SportsPak. Former subscribers who file claim forms will be entitled to four free months of OTT service SundanceNow and a cash payment of $20, $30 or $40, depending on how long they had been subscribers.