DISH Sues Networks in Federal Court
DISH Looks for Ruling on Questions Related to Copyright, Compliance
ENGLEWOOD, CO–(Marketwire – May 24, 2012) – DISH today filed suit against ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in federal court for a declaratory judgment on questions that have arisen related to the pay-TV provider’s May 10 introduction of a user-enabled commercial skipping technology called AutoHop. This feature is an advancement that is generating buzz and already seeing a groundswell of support from consumers.
Filed with the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, the suit asks for a declaratory judgment that the AutoHop feature does not infringe any copyrights that could be claimed by the major networks, and that DISH, while providing the AutoHop feature, remains in compliance with its agreements with the networks.
DISH’s monthly subscriber fees include significant “retransmission fees” that DISH pays to the major networks. Although the broadcasters have made much of their content available for free using sites such as Hulu, they have continued to demand substantial increases in their retransmission fees.
“Consumers should be able to fairly choose for themselves what they do and do not want to watch,” said David Shull, DISH senior vice president of Programming. “Viewers have been skipping commercials since the advent of the remote control; we are giving them a feature they want and that gives them more control.”
“We don’t believe AutoHop will substantially change established consumer behavior, but we do believe it makes the viewing experience better,” said Shull.
In addition to increasing media reports of planned legal action against DISH, three of the networks — CBS, Fox and NBC — have rejected ads for DISH’s Hopper Whole-Home DVR, the device that features the AutoHop function.
“We respect the business models that drive our industry, but we also embrace the evolving nature of technology and new ideas,” said Shull. “Advances in the ability to measure and target viewership will give the entire industry — including advertisers — the ability to develop better programming, more effective advertising and deliver an overall better experience to the viewer.”
About AutoHop
AutoHop is an extension of the Hopper’s PrimeTime Anytime™ capability, the exclusive feature that allows viewers, with one click, to record all of the primetime TV programming on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC in HD — the networks that deliver some of the most popular shows during primetime.
Once the viewer enables the PrimeTime Anytime feature, the Hopper automatically stores these shows for eight days after they have aired, creating an on-demand library of approximately 100 hours of primetime TV shows, and making it easy to access episodes from last night, or last week. AutoHop, using patented technology, works with most shows recorded using PrimeTime Anytime (patent pending).
A viewer can watch a show with the AutoHop option commercial-free starting at 1 a.m. ET, after a show has been recorded to the Hopper’s PrimeTime Anytime library. Prior to that, the Hopper’s 30-second “hop forward” feature continues to work for same-day viewing.
About DISH
DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), through its subsidiary DISH Network L.L.C., provides approximately 14.071 million satellite TV customers, as of March 31, 2012, with the highest quality programming and technology with the most choices at the best value, including HD Free for Life. Subscribers enjoy the largest high definition lineup with more than 200 national HD channels, the most international channels, and award-winning HD and DVR technology. DISH Network Corporation’s subsidiary, Blockbuster L.L.C., delivers family entertainment to millions of customers around the world. DISH Network Corporation is a Fortune 200 company. Visit http://www.dish.com.
Broadcast TV networks, Dish Network file lawsuits over new Auto Hop ad skipping feature
Raymond Ginting 
It’s a shame that things had to go this way. From everything I have seen and heard Auto Hop is something viewers have been waiting a long time for. Personally Auto Hop is a very useful feature. Working late nights for Dish it is nice to come home and watch a few of my favorite shows. Now that I don’t have to sit through the commercials I can squeeze in a few more episodes before I go to bed. In the end I would like to see all the networks working with Dish because I don’t know of a single person that wouldn’t hop over a few commercials if they could.
agreed Hunter, but is it a fact or just an issue? but i think that dish knows what best things to do for their viewers anyway let’s hope dish could run the business better ( for dish addict 😉 )
I don’t understand why CBS, FOX, & NBC execs don’t want us to enjoy commercial-free TV. I’m a DISH employee – AutoHop is great because you can easily watch commercial-free TV. Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group, is taking a stand for consumers by creating a petition that tells CBS, FOX, & NBC media to keep their hands out of your living room & DVR. Sign their petition to keep control of how you watch TV.