Networks Score First Round in Fight Against Dish AutoHop

By Rob Scott
July 11, 2012

CBS, NBC and Fox have won the first round in the battle over Dish Network’s ad-skipping technology known as AutoHop.
“A New York federal court Monday denied Dish’s request for a declaratory ruling that the AutoHop does not violate copyright law,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
The networks had filed suit to block AutoHop (launched in May), which lets Dish customers bypass commercials on recorded versions of their shows.
“Now we move on to the real issue at hand — demonstrating that Dish Network has created and marketed a product with the clear goal of breaching its license with Fox, violating copyrights and destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television business,” Fox said in a statement.
“We look forward to proceeding with this case, recognizing that it has been 28 years since the Supreme Court’s ‘Betamax’ decision held that a viewer, in the privacy of their home, could record a television show to watch later,” said R. Stanton Dodge, Dish’s general counsel. “Dish will stand behind consumers and their right to skip commercials, something they have been doing since the invention of the remote control.”

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