Dish Gets Sued Over Their Auto Hop Ad Skip Service
It was only a few weeks ago that we reported on Dish Networks’ new Auto Hop feature, which allows viewers of their Hopper and Joey DVRs to completely skip commercials under certain, limited circumstances, such as having a top tier subscription and then only on certain programs, along with more restrictions.
An obvious question is what do the broadcast networks think about this and the answer? Not a lot, since Fox Broadcasting, NBC Universal and CBS Corp have all launched lawsuits against Dish for breach of copyright and contract. The whole case rests on a subtle, but key question: do TV distributors have the right to cut out advertisements on behalf of consumers, or do consumers alone have the power to do this? According to the broadcast networks, only consumers do, as Fox said that if the service isn’t stopped, it “will ultimately destroy the advertising-supported ecosystem” that underpins TV shows.
The lawsuit says the service is a form of unlicensed video-on-demand because the recordings are kept on a portion of the DVR’s hard drive that is controlled by Dish. Fox only licenses its regular programs to Dish for playback on VOD on the condition that fast-forwarding of commercials is disabled. If the service isn’t stopped, it “will ultimately destroy the advertising-supported ecosystem” that underpins TV shows, Fox said.
“Viewers have been skipping commercials since the advent of the remote control,” said Dish’s senior vice president of programming, David Shull, in a statement. “We are giving them a feature they want and that gives them more control.”
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