CBS Seeks to Unwind Retrans Agreement With Dish Network
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I don't think I agree with one thing in that post.
But not in a mean way!! (Ok one thing - I did think Dish acted foolishly with AMC over the VOOM lawsuit) It's just I am looking at this from a completely different perspective. Just to pick one thing - Dish does not know - or care - if it affects CBS advertisers. They have no obligation to try and determine what CBS might find objectionable. They did not hide they had the technology, only according to CBS that it was vague. Well CBS should be suing their lawyers then for not asking more questions......
If they were negotiating in good faith then these networks would be disclosing what rates they are actually getting from each provider during these discussions
I suspect that the networks would have fought the FF and skip at the time they were introduced on cable and satellite boxes if they had known what the outcome would be.... Too late now, viewers would blame the networks. Automatic commercial skipping is a new thing to be fought before it gains a large foothold and the consumer demands it.
I don't think I agree with one thing in that post.
It all depends on the contract language and what happened (i.e., what was asked and what was answered) and what materials facts were or should have been disclosed during the due-diligence phase. We simply don't have enough information at this point. Dish may be squeaky clean and CBS is having a hissy-fit because they lacked foresight. However, they may also be victims of Dish/SATS chicanery if they did not negotiate in good faith and fully disclose all relevent information. I honestly don't know much about this case...probably because I cannot find anything posted in the e-courts (does anyone have a link?), but I am thinking that CBS could terminate the agreement in the event of a material breach with or without the court's intervention. I guess they're doing "things" the right way by going through the court and not just pulling the plug like Dish did with VOOM...minus the illegally terminating portion, fabricating a cover-up story, destroying evidence, and having executives lie in depositions and in the courtroom testimony. In other words, just another day working at the #2 hated company in America.
Anyway, there were a number folks arguing (and still do) in favor of Dish and against Tivo and Voom and AMC and Lifetime (and others) regardless of the volumes of evidence against Dish. I expect no less since the Dish Forum is skewed in favor of Dish and zealous members view the broadcasters/cablecasters/satcasters as being evil. I'm sure we would hear the exact opposite if this story were being told over at nab.org.
Finally, while Dish may not be under any legal obligation to care what happens to CBS, it is my experience that it is a good business practice to ensure (as much as possible) the success of business parners in order to create win-win outcomes. Charlie does not appear to roll this way...which is unfortunate IMO.
Any links to the court filings?
OTOH, Comcast is also a major content provider, as are Time Warner and Cablevision, although less so. It will be interesting to see what happens in regard to ad-skipping on their delivery systems.
In my opinion, Dish should just let this go. (How come 9 times out of 10, it is always them fighting with someone?) Even if Dish wins and can use their auto skip feature, the networks are going to ask for more money from Dish when it comes time to sign a new contract. We already have the ability to skip commercials, so why stir the pot?
We need the guy who invented the Internet to get involved ya I know too late. But he sure did give GI and programmers lots of trouble. We need new laws that get rid of this crap. My view if it comes over the airwaves in the clear free use for all regardless of what they are doing with it.
I think CBS will lose dish will win. I hope during retrans agreement dish tells CBS to go hell and has some balls and says we're not paying anymore. It would take years and years to work it out in court.
The auto hop is not going to change the TV industry the internet will.
I think CBS will lose dish will win. I hope during retrans agreement dish tells CBS to go hell and has some balls and says we're not paying anymore. It would take years and years to work it out in court.
The auto hop is not going to change the TV industry the internet will.
Personally, I prefer being able to record OTA/cable/sat programs to hdd and be able to skip commercials during playback as opposed to streaming the programming and being forced to sit through commercials embedded in the stream that can't be skipped.
For all of you wishing for a streaming/internet solution for watching TV, the latter is what you will have.
For all of you wishing for a streaming/internet solution for watching TV, the latter is what you will have.
If CBS wins and AutoHop is eliminated, can we ask that CBS (and all networks) stop product-placement advertising ?
I still record my Hulu and Netflix streams to a HDD for my own trick playback or archival.
I'll put my money on CBS, FBC and NBC on this one. It's only a matter of time before a judge rules (East or West Coast cases) that Dish's Primetime Anytime/AutoHop duo violates the owner's copyrights and/or they breached their agreement with CBS by not disclosing the Auto Hop feature and upcoming deployment to circumvents CBS' advertizing stream when this information was reguested. Regardless, even if Dish were to somehow win these cases, you can bet your sweet bippy that future agreements will include specific and detailed informaiton forbidding the use of Primetime Anytime/AutoHop technology.
In a nutshell:
- Dish will most likely lose in the short-term
- Dish will almost certailny lose in the long-term
We shall see...
That does add an extra step or two, and reduces streaming's ondemand convenience somewhat.I still record my Hulu and Netflix streams to a HDD for my own trick playback or archival.
No different than waiting 15 minutes to chase play a live sat program so that you can skip past the commercials. You get the convenience of on-demand without the headaches.
Having my own copies of streamed content is truly on-demand. Regular on-demand should be renamed on-availability.
I wouldn't care if Dish lost this one, and auto-hop technology went away, if it was only limited to auto-hop. I have no problem using the 30-sec skip.
But, and this is a big but, it might set a precedent leading to the elimination of commercial skipping technology of any kind, which would include the simple 30-sec skip, and eventually even limit time-shifting, such as limits on how long the recording can be stored. And, that I can't abide.
But, with the deregulation and corporatization of America, it is entirely possible, unless we voice strong opposition, such as was done with SOPA. Believe it or not, our government is still scared of its citizens, if the people in charge of it think they're gonna lose their phony baloney jobs at the next election.
Is the software programmable to automate the process, like setting timers on a DVR?No different than waiting 15 minutes to chase play a live sat program so that you can skip past the commercials. You get the convenience of on-demand without the headaches.
Having my own copies of streamed content is truly on-demand. Regular on-demand should be renamed on-availability.
Yes, but the nature of on-demand streaming is that you initiate the playback of the program yourself, so there's no real need for timer recording when it comes to chase-play or archiving of on-demand streaming, except for instant timer recording (30-minute intervals).
