AT&T, Herring To Argue Dismissal of U-verse Suit June 27

A hearing on AT&T's motion to dismiss Herring Networks' complaint about its carriage on U-verse (see 1603110064) is scheduled for June 27 before U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder of Los Angeles. In an opposition filing (in Pacer) Monday, Herring said AT&T's motion to dismiss is "replete with boilerplate arguments" and its claims of fraud, breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing "are all sufficiently pled." The fraud allegedly came when AT&T misrepresented its plan to expand its U-verse platform and concealed its plans to buy DirecTV, the implied covenant claim stemming from AT&T's obligation not to frustrate Herring's rights under the U-verse agreement and the contractual claims coming from the telco's now-breached agreement to put Herring's networks on DirecTV. AT&T, in its motion to dismiss filed last month, said Herring "is essentially asking this Court to rewrite the terms of a contract that it once agreed to, but now apparently regrets," its 2014 agreement with Herring specifically says the programmer has no right to have its content carried on any other video system AT&T might buy, and the contract specifically says the telco has the right to shut down U-verse without recourse to Herring.