Ill., Ga. Streaming Franchise Fee Fights Headed to State Courts
Two legal fights over attempts to charge streaming services local video franchise fees are heading from federal courts to state jurisdictions. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Beatty in East St. Louis, Illinois, sided Thursday with Shiloh, Illinois, in its request that…
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its franchise fee suit be remanded to the state Circuit Court in St. Clair County, Illinois. Beatty said in his docket 3:21-CV-807 order that numerous federal courts facing similar streaming franchise fee suits have favored remand to state courts since the litigation involves state taxation regimes. Being sued are DirecTV, Dish Network, Disney, Hulu and Netflix, which had opposed Shiloh's motion. The same defendants dropped their appeal of a U.S. District Court decision to remand a video franchise fees fight to Georgia state court. In a docket 21-13111 order Thursday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the appellants' motion to dismiss.