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.