7th Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Streamer Franchise Fee Suit in Illinois
Neither the current definition of "video service" under Illinois state law nor the modified language taking effect in 2024 entitles East St. Louis to franchise fees from streaming services, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday (docket 22-2905)…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
in the city's appeal of dismissal of its suit against numerous streamers (see 2209230059). The 2024 language "makes pellucid what most readers of the older definition would have understood: content streamed over the Internet is outside the scope of this regulatory system," the three-judge panel said, upholding the dismissal by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Beatty. The panel also rejected the streamer defendant-appellees use the public right of way for communication, ruling if "phone calls over landline cables, electricity over wires, and gas routed through pipes are not trespasses on the City’s land -- and they are not -- neither are the electrons that carry movies and other videos." And it rejected city arguments about a municipal law barring resale of cable TV services, saying over-the-top streamers don't do that. Deciding were 7th Circuit Judges Frank Easterbrook, David Hamilton and Doris Pryor. Oral argument was in September (see 2309120039).