They argue that BSkyB’s control over encryption technology by which television signals are scrambled and unscrambled
They argue that BSkyB’s control over encryption technology, by which television signals are scrambled and unscrambled, gives it a gatekeeper role in pay TV. In exchange, the company receives advantageous rates for the carriage of Sky’s movies, sports and general interest channels.Sky’s rates and programming packages for cable companies were the subject of an informal undertaking from BSkyB earlier this year, following complaints from the cable industry. A formal complaint has been launched with the European Commission asking that agreements signed between BSkyB, the satellite and cable broadcaster 40 per cent owned by Mr Murdoch’s News Corp, and two UK cable companies be overturned on the grounds that they restrain trade.
The OFT has also been asked to look at the contracts, and has formally requested copies from Nynex CableComms and TeleWest, two large cable companies.Mr Murdoch’s pay TV woes came to a head just as he confirmed to an Italian newspaper that he was prepared to buy outright Silvio Berlusconi’s three commercial television stations in Italy.The cable company contracts were signed earlier this month. A copy of the Nynex contract, seen by the Independent, enjoins Nynex from investing in or carrying products that compete directly with Sky programming. Furious UK cable companies have complained to the Office of Fair Trading and competition authorities in Brussels over Rupert Murdoch’s control of the pay TV market in Britain. His task has not been helped by another book, based on tape-recordings with Kato Kaelin, who lived in guest quarters at Simpson’s house.
It has not escaped the notice of prosecutors that the book contains information which Mr Kaelin did not mention on the witness stand.. But since then the panel has made several flamboyant demonstrations of unity – and have appeared clad in T-shirts from a pizza restaurant bearing the words: “14 ethnically diverse cultures peacefully co-existing on a thin, delicious crust.”But it is the jury’s thinning numbers that Judge Ito is worrying about as he struggles to prevent the trial from collapsing. For example, Michael Knox has revealed that he was kicked out for failing to reveal that he was once arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his girlfriend. This titbit is the fruit of the latest effort by the publishing industry to cash in on the Simpson case, this time with a book by Mr Knox about his jury experiences.It remains to be seen whether his memoirs will shed any further light on the stress within the jury room, now occupied by eight blacks, two Hispanics and two whites – of whom nine are women.
When Ms Harris’s allegations surfaced, there were widespread predictions that the jury was too deeply divided to reach a verdict. “This bodes very badly for the future of this trial,” said Robert Pugsley, a law professor. “I don’t see realistically how they’re going to make it.”As jurors pack up and leave, Judge Lance Ito has withheld the reason for their departures, beyond citing “good cause”, although some details have trickled out. Otherwise the case would end in a mistrial, an outcome which seems increasingly probable as the trial is expected to run for another four months. Last month she led a jury protest in which 13 of the panel turned up in court wearing black after the dismissal of three of their police guards following complaints by a dismissed black juror, Jeanette Harris, that they had been preferential to whites.If the number of jurors drops below 12, the case can still proceed if both sides agree, although neither will want to do so if it suspects a looming defeat. The dismissed woman was one of the jury’s small minority of whites, thought to be less sympathetic to the former American footballer than are the black jurors.The prosecution may also have considered her as a potentially powerful influence in the jury room.
