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Who cares
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Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Recommit, enacting clause stricken
- Referred to consumer protection
- Referred to consumer protection
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to mail-order or telephone-order of movies
Purpose or general idea of bill
Prohibits penalties to be imposed on heavy users or mail-order movie rental.
Summary of specific provisions
Section one: Amends subdivision 3 of section 396-m of the general business law by adding a new paragraph k that prohibits the advertisement of unlimited movie rental services to New York customers without disclosure of any applicable penalties for heavy usage of such service.
Justification
Mail order movie rental services have changed the way many New Yorkers rent movies, but hidden conditions have made promises of unlimited DVDs unattainable for many subscribers. For example, Netflix advertises its most popular plan as 3 DVDs out at a time for $17.99 per month. Their ads also promise one day business delivery to more than 90% of their subscribers who live within one day delivery of their dozens of warehouses around the nation. But recent reports have demonstrated that the heaviest users, defined as customers who rent more than 9 movies per month, are being singled out for usage penalties, including intentional disadvantages in the allocation of popular movies and longer processing times for their orders.
This legislation will make these hidden roadblocks more visible to service subscribers by requiring that any such conditions imposed upon a customer for usage of an unlimited movie rental service must be clearly stated in any promotional material distributed in this state. Subscribers deserve to know if renting 10 movies a month is going to get them sent to the back of the line for popular new releases, so they can make their rental choices more strategically and with complete knowledge of the terms and conditions of their subscription agreement.
Prior legislative history
2006 - S.7607 - Reported out of Codes to Rules 2008 - S.2230 - Referred to Consumer Protection
Fiscal implication
No cost to the state.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.