Opinion ID: 5499
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: PPV's Interpretation

Text: PPV asserts that the phrase by means of closed-circuit television refers to a particular means of transmitting a television or radio signal to specific viewers. That is, the term closed circuit merely describes a technology, whereby the telecast goes to a finite number of locations, rather than to the public at large.1 Based on this definition of closed circuit, PPV's proposed telecast to homes equipped with satellite dishes and the necessary decoder would have been by means of closed-circuit television. PPV claims that the right it acquired from J & J—to telecast the fight on a pay-per-view basis to homes equipped with satellite dishes—falls within the closed-circuit right retained by Dynamic Duo in paragraph 3 of the Dynamic Duo-HBO contract. Thus, PPV contends that HBO had no right to object to PPV's proposed telecast because the telecast would not have infringed HBO's contractual rights. To support its definition of closed circuit at trial, PPV presented the testimony of Dawson, PPV's owner and an active participant in the satellite industry, and Albert P. Kelly, whom PPV identifies as an expert in satellite communications technology. Both witnesses testified that closed circuit is merely a means of distributing a television signal to authorized points of reception. Kelly's 1 Under this definition, telecast to the general public by ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX are not closed-circuit telecasts, but telecast by cable programmers such as ESPN, HBO, and Showtime are closed-circuit telecasts. A cable television system utilizes closed-circuit technology. background is in selling, installing, and maintaining satellite systems. He has helped conduct telecasts of boxing matches (and similar events), but has not been involved in negotiating telecast contracts with boxing promoters. Kelly testified that closed circuit has no special meaning in the boxing business. At trial, PPV also introduced several dictionaries and encyclopedias that also broadly defined closed circuit in the technological sense. See, e.g., WEBSTER'S NINTH NEW COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY 250 (1985) (a television installation in which the signal is transmitted by wire to a limited number of receivers); MCGRAW-HILL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 45 (6th ed. 1987) (A video communication system in which the signal is transmitted from the point of origin only to those specific receivers that have access to it by previous arrangement.); LONGMAN DICTIONARY OF MASS MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION 53 (Tracy Daniel Connors ed. 1982) (transmission of television signals over a communications line or system (rather than broadcasting them) for reception by only certain receivers; often used for major sports events, industrial, and educational applications).