Generally, Don Best Sports is not active in making posts on the various forums for a variety of good reasons, with all due respect to the forum readers. We are making an exception in this case because we?ve seen some discussion on some important issues, and we?d like to set the record straight and provide our perspective.
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New Ownership<O
First, many of you may not know that Don Best is under new ownership and management. In April 2008, Corcom, Inc. d/b/a Don Best Sports(DB)was purchased by Big Stick Media Corp, an Ontario based Corporation that trades publicly on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We are not owned by any sportsbook, directly or through stockholders. At this time, Big Stick Media has over 450 shareholders. The only shareholder larger than 10% (and under 20%) is SkillJam Corporation, a company that is ultimately owned by Liberty Media
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DB has a long and respected history in this industry, having invented the computerized line service and provided first class service for many years. We understand that after 2005 when the original owners of Don Best sold the company, there had been complaints that the quality of service suffered. It does seem that last year, prior to our purchase of DB, injury reporting was not as good as in years past. We are here to tell you that we are intent on restoring the high level of customer service that Don Best has always been known for, and there is no question that our team is ready and able to deliver. We have already invested much in improving infrastructure and staff. We are confident that for this football season and beyond, our injury reporting will be second to none. We also offer several pricing specials that significantly reduce the monthly price for the service, and you are welcome to contact us for more information (800-DON-BEST).<O
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Theft of Line Information<O
In recent years, several companies have attempted to copy what we do at DB in an effort to compete. We have no problem with lawful competition or honest efforts to make a living, and have generally wished others success in their endeavors. However, we recently discovered the misappropriation of DB's proprietary data by certain industry competitors. Those competitors logged onto our servers posing as legitimate customers, and pulled lines from various sportsbooks to republish them on their competing services, reselling them as their own. We have strong proof of improper actions, and we are pursuing all available legal remedies against the offending parties.
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In was not our intention to make these allegations public in this forum, however, we have seen discussion on the issue and we felt it necessary to put the record straight. Any legal filings will be public documents, and we encourage any of you with questions or concerns to review such documents as they become available in the near future.
Exclusive Rights
It should be known that DB has exclusive agreements with BetCRIS, Grande, 5 Dimes, Catalina (and shortly other major sportsbooks). These agreements provide DB the exclusive rights to display such odds in real-time. No other competitor, regardless of any representation to the contrary, has the legal right to do so, whether they misappropriate lines from DB or from the sportsbook's web site against the express wishes of the sportsbook (also known as ?Scraping?). Some of our competitors have resorted to this unauthorized method of taking line data, and steps are being taken to stop that as well.
Some of you may wonder why this information shouldn?t be public and free to all. It is not dissimilar to real-time stock market information or rebroadcasting of live news information. It is not public domain information until a certain amount of time has passed (these vary based on which line feed and what their originators make available to the public). The fact is that a real time network system costs money and time to build and operate, and the company that invests to do it has every right to protect what it has built.
We hope that this post helps the visitors to this forum understand these issues a little better. Thank you.
<O
New Ownership<O
First, many of you may not know that Don Best is under new ownership and management. In April 2008, Corcom, Inc. d/b/a Don Best Sports(DB)was purchased by Big Stick Media Corp, an Ontario based Corporation that trades publicly on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We are not owned by any sportsbook, directly or through stockholders. At this time, Big Stick Media has over 450 shareholders. The only shareholder larger than 10% (and under 20%) is SkillJam Corporation, a company that is ultimately owned by Liberty Media
<O
DB has a long and respected history in this industry, having invented the computerized line service and provided first class service for many years. We understand that after 2005 when the original owners of Don Best sold the company, there had been complaints that the quality of service suffered. It does seem that last year, prior to our purchase of DB, injury reporting was not as good as in years past. We are here to tell you that we are intent on restoring the high level of customer service that Don Best has always been known for, and there is no question that our team is ready and able to deliver. We have already invested much in improving infrastructure and staff. We are confident that for this football season and beyond, our injury reporting will be second to none. We also offer several pricing specials that significantly reduce the monthly price for the service, and you are welcome to contact us for more information (800-DON-BEST).<O
<O
<O
Theft of Line Information<O
In recent years, several companies have attempted to copy what we do at DB in an effort to compete. We have no problem with lawful competition or honest efforts to make a living, and have generally wished others success in their endeavors. However, we recently discovered the misappropriation of DB's proprietary data by certain industry competitors. Those competitors logged onto our servers posing as legitimate customers, and pulled lines from various sportsbooks to republish them on their competing services, reselling them as their own. We have strong proof of improper actions, and we are pursuing all available legal remedies against the offending parties.
<O
In was not our intention to make these allegations public in this forum, however, we have seen discussion on the issue and we felt it necessary to put the record straight. Any legal filings will be public documents, and we encourage any of you with questions or concerns to review such documents as they become available in the near future.
Exclusive Rights
It should be known that DB has exclusive agreements with BetCRIS, Grande, 5 Dimes, Catalina (and shortly other major sportsbooks). These agreements provide DB the exclusive rights to display such odds in real-time. No other competitor, regardless of any representation to the contrary, has the legal right to do so, whether they misappropriate lines from DB or from the sportsbook's web site against the express wishes of the sportsbook (also known as ?Scraping?). Some of our competitors have resorted to this unauthorized method of taking line data, and steps are being taken to stop that as well.
Some of you may wonder why this information shouldn?t be public and free to all. It is not dissimilar to real-time stock market information or rebroadcasting of live news information. It is not public domain information until a certain amount of time has passed (these vary based on which line feed and what their originators make available to the public). The fact is that a real time network system costs money and time to build and operate, and the company that invests to do it has every right to protect what it has built.
We hope that this post helps the visitors to this forum understand these issues a little better. Thank you.
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Don Best Sports 
