AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — After the streaming service-related lawsuit involving the city of Amarillo was moved back to Dallas County Court in January, a non-jury trial has been scheduled for the matter early next year.

According to documents filed in the 14th District Court of Dallas County on Thursday, the non-jury trial lawsuit involving a number of Texas cities, including the city of Amarillo, as plaintiffs are expected to participate in a non-jury trial at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 9, 2024, in Dallas.

According to previous reports by MyHighPlains.com, the cities are alleging that three streaming services, Disney DTC, LLC, Hulu, LLC and Netflix, INC, the defendants, did not pay municipal franchise fees to 25 Texas cities under Texas’s Public Utility Regulatory Act, or PURA. Originally filed in August 2022 in state court, the case was previously moved to federal court but moved back to state court in January, after the plaintiffs argued that it should be in state court because the case surrounds collecting state revenue.

After moving the case back to state court, the cities issued an amended petition in the case, updating the number of cities involved in the lawsuit, increasing from 25 to 29 that were originally involved in the lawsuit. The cities now involved in this lawsuit include:

• City of Dallas
• City of Abilene
• City of Allen
• City of Amarillo
• City of Arlington
• City of Austin
• City of Beaumont
• City of Carrollton
• City of Denton
• City of Fort Worth
• City of Frisco
• City of Garland
• City of Grand Prairie
• City of Houston
• City of Irving
• City of Lewisville
• City of McKinney
• City of Mesquite
• City of Nacogdoches
• City of Pearland
• City of Plano
• City of Rowlett
• City of Sugar Land
• City of Tyler
• City of Waco

Recent additions to the list included:

• City of Huntsville
• City of Lubbock
• City of San Angelo
• City of Wichita Falls

In the updated petition, like the previous arguments, the plaintiffs allege that because Disney, Hulu and Netflix distribute video programming services to subscribers in Texas through “wireline facilities located at least in part in the public right-of-way,” the plaintiffs should recover franchise fees from the three streaming services which they say are required under PURA.

In the trial announcement, court officials said that this is expected to be a “level 3” case. Parties are required to prepare an agreed scheduling order, which must include a mediator, and submit it to the court by 30 days from when the notice was made.