Judge will not ban Dish's Hopper technology

Dish Network has struck another victory as a NY judge has ruled to not issue a preliminary injunction against the company's 'Hopper' technology, a set-top DVR that allows for ad-skipping.

The hardware will remain legal in New York now, against the wishes of ABC, which had requested the injunction.

Besides ABC, CBS and other companies have all separately sued Dish over the Hopper and its native software, the AutoHop.

The decision marks the second victory for the company, as a judge in California made a similar ruling in July in a case brought by News Corp. (Fox).

ABC was understandably not happy: "Today's ruling is only a preliminary decision and the first step in the judicial process. We continue to firmly believe that Dish's AutoHop and PrimeTime Anytime services breach our retransmission consent agreement with Dish, infringe upon ABC's copyrights, and unfairly compete with the authorized on-demand and commercial-free options currently offered by ABC and its licensees."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 Sep 2013 21:21

dp70

History repeats itself. The current owner of ABC is Disney. This is the same Disney who with MCA (Universal) attempted to outlaw the VCR as a copyright infringing tool. They sued in Federal Courts, and lost. What next? Outlaw the FF button? Of course ABC forgot to mention a 60 minute TV show, has 44 minutes of "entertainment". These guys are so poor they do not know where their next billion dollars will come from.

20.9.2013 05:24 #1

Nosredneh

I do not like to watch ads but I hope this does not effect my watching football games in anyway. With 2 games at a time, I just flip between each during ads. Just thinking out loud.

20.9.2013 12:07 #2

SProdigy

Originally posted by dp70: History repeats itself. The current owner of ABC is Disney. This is the same Disney who with MCA (Universal) attempted to outlaw the VCR as a copyright infringing tool. They sued in Federal Courts, and lost. What next? Outlaw the FF button? Of course ABC forgot to mention a 60 minute TV show, has 44 minutes of "entertainment". These guys are so poor they do not know where their next billion dollars will come from. But look at it from their end. How does a TV network generate revenue? They do it by creating hit shows, which in turn draw big numbers, which in turn attract high dollar advertisers. No ads = no revenue.

Of course, I'm talking about ABC and not a pay channel such as HBO.

20.9.2013 15:10 #3

riggarob

I'm torn on this issue. Why not have a drop down menu. if you see something that you like, you just click on the drop down tab and you can see the advertisement. the other person said you get 44 minutes of entertainment on 60 minutes.... good point.

20.9.2013 19:44 #4

sundance

All they have to do is make ads that spark interest. I have seen ads that I actual stopped and watched (not often). With down right repulsive ads like the Crest pro health (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQr-0gm6eZ8) I will do what ever it take to not watch crap like this.

20.9.2013 19:55 #5

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by SProdigy: Originally posted by dp70: History repeats itself. The current owner of ABC is Disney. This is the same Disney who with MCA (Universal) attempted to outlaw the VCR as a copyright infringing tool. They sued in Federal Courts, and lost. What next? Outlaw the FF button? Of course ABC forgot to mention a 60 minute TV show, has 44 minutes of "entertainment". These guys are so poor they do not know where their next billion dollars will come from. But look at it from their end. How does a TV network generate revenue? They do it by creating hit shows, which in turn draw big numbers, which in turn attract high dollar advertisers. No ads = no revenue.

Of course, I'm talking about ABC and not a pay channel such as HBO. In the old model years ago that might have been true but now the double dip or more so that just isn't valid today. And they shouldn't be able to make you watch commercials in the first place even if we were back in the free tv age, which we are not.

20.9.2013 22:14 #6

Necrosaro420

We already pay for the content. Its our business if we want to skip past commercials or not.

21.9.2013 04:01 #7

GrandpaBW

dp70 summed it up with the statement about banning VCRs, way the hell back when. Yet today, friggin attorneys are still making one helluva lot of money (with the same frivolous lawsuits) that they shouldn't be making. How about a ban on those leeches?

Life is good!
GrandpaBruce - Vietnam Vet - 1970 - 1971
Computer: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalim;Asus P6T Deluxe V2

21.9.2013 23:51 #8

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