By Chris Mehrmann and Andrew Appleby

The Oregon Supreme Court held that property owned by DirecTV, Inc., a satellite television provider, was subject to central assessment because DirecTV was engaged in the business of providing “data transmission services,” making it a “communications” business. In reaching its decision, the court explained that data transmission services include “services that provide the means to send data from one computer or computer-like device to another across a transmission network.” The court concluded that DirecTV provided such services, because the company was in the business of transmitting electronically coded data between computer-like devices, including set-top boxes. DIRECTV, Inc. v. Dep’t of Revenue, 360 Or. 21 (Or. 2016).