Dish Scores Another Hopper Win

Dish Network’s commercial skipping of its Hopper set-top-box device got another legal win on Wednesday -- this time from a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Walt Disney Co’s ABC requested a preliminary injunction, which was denied by an Los Angeles court. At issue is Dish’s Autohop feature, which can record four networks' prime-time programming without TV commercials.

A year ago in May, Dish sued TV networks: ABC, CBS Corp. and Comcast Corp.’s NBC, in which it was seeking a judgment that its AutoHop feature, which allows viewers to skip ads only in broadcast shows, doesn’t violate network copyrights or contracts.

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Later that day, Fox Broadcasting Co., CBS and NBC filed a lawsuit against Dish in Los Angeles for copyright infringement and breach of contract.

R. Stanton Dodge, Dish’s general counsel, stated the company's response: “This is the third federal court decision that has sided with consumers’ right to enjoy television as they want, when they want, including the right to skip commercials.”

Complicating this activity, Dish and Disney-ABC will be negotiating a big carriage at the end of September.

 
2 comments about "Dish Scores Another Hopper Win".
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  1. Christina Ricucci from Millenia 3 Communications, September 19, 2013 at 7:32 p.m.

    "Complicating this activity, DISH and Disney-ABC will be negotiating a big carriage [deal] at the end of September."

    DISH CEO Charlie Ergen claims that DISH is willing to dump ABC, ESPN & the other Disney nets if they can't agree on a deal, and we know from past experience that this man loves a fight. I guess this is a very good time NOT to be a DISH subscriber.

  2. Edmund Singleton from Winstion Communications, September 20, 2013 at 6:25 a.m.

    Like almost all my friends these days we record then watch television. However, an interesting commercial is never skipped and may be viewed several times...

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