The decision comes just 11 days after a Salt Lake City jury awarded parental-control tech maker ClearPlay nearly half a billion dollars over two technologies used in Dish’s AutoHop commercial-skipping feature.
The satellite TV company said today that it is adding the Netflix app to its latest set-top boxes, its second-generation Hopper devices released in February 2013. Dish wouldn’t say how many customers have that box.
When it lost a summary injunction back in September, the network said it wasn’t done trying to get Dish Network’s Hopper service shut down and on Wednesday ABC took another swing at it. In a brief dated Nov. 12 and filed yesterday (read it here) with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, ABC and Disney Enterprises went after the satellite provider’s ad-jumping DVR service again.
News Corp.’s Fox Broadcasting has asked for a court order to block new “on-the-go” features of Dish Network’s Hopper set-top boxes that allow consumers to watch live and recorded TV shows on smartphones and tablets.
The Consumer Electronics Association along with the Computer and Communications Industry Association and the Internet Association tells a federal court that the Dish Hopper service that allows consumers to record and zap ads in all network broadcasting does not violate copyright law. Broadcasters have sued Dish, claiming copyright violations and breach of distribution contracts.
Dish is using the recent controversy over the Best In Show award the satcaster’s new Hopper with Sling DVR did not receive as a recruiting tool. The ad-zapping service was awarded the top prize by the editors of CNET before they were overruled by corporate parent CBS which is suing Dish over Hopper. On Sunday, Dish bought full-page ads in several major newspapers to crow about the award it didn’t get and blast CBS.
Exclusives
TV Is Everywhere, At Least At CES
The Consumer Electronics Show officially kicked off this morning and already pay TV and content providers have announced some new toys, services and tactics.
Dish Network Corp., the second-largest U.S. satellite provider, is developing a feature that would let advertisers see what people are watching in real time, setting the stage for last-minute auctions of ad space.
Take Your Cue From Moonves: Skip Dish
All broadcasters should follow the lead of CBS’s Leslie Moonves and threaten to use their retrans clout to come down hard on Dish Network and the Auto Hop commercial-skipping feature of its Hopper DVR. Allowing subscribers to skip all spots in recorded programs at the touch of a button is a broadcasting killer.
Dish Network is looking to make a splash at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — but one announcement, which leaked out prematurely, could raise the ire of ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Dish’s new multi-room DVR, Hopper, will automatically record primetime broadcasts from local stations for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC and retain those shows for a week — in effect turning Hopper into into a catch-up VOD service.
