• Wall Street Journal, Friday, June 8, 2012 4:05 PM

Dish Network's controversial (and litigation-attracting) AutoHop ad-skipping service "is a 'competitively necessary' response to the explosion of cheap Internet video," according to company Chairman Charlie Ergen.

Ergen, in an interview with Shalini Ramachandran, said the release of AutoHop "aims to force the networks to develop 'more meaningful' ads, using, for example, demographic targeting of viewers. 'Ultimately, broadcasters and advertisers have to change the way they do business or they run the risk of linear TV becoming obsolete,' he said."

Ergen "implicitly acknowledged" that AutoHop's launch was also a ploy to gain leverage in retransmission fee negotiations.

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