They don't have to just make DVRs go away, you know. They could always make it to where you can't fast forward through commercials.
Chairman of NBC no fan of auto hop
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They don't have to just make DVRs go away, you know. They could always make it to where you can't fast forward through commercials.
It was a long time ago, but IIRC, the same question (how the networks would be able to tie in the blame for any lost revenue on <commercial skip>) came up in the ReplayTV case. The suggestion was to capture viewer usage and history data directly from Replay. "Oh! My Privacy!," the People screamed. That was then...
Now, corporations routinely use "non-identifiable" customer data "in aggregate" for pretty much whatever they want.
That said, in order to make their argument, the networks would only need to show that measurable harm was done, the current amount of harm would not be relevant.
Not that I think it would be damning, because I believe DVR users have been skipping commercials for years, but do you really think Dish would give that information to the networks??
JPhil said:
Measurable harm isn't a legal standard to sue under. Dish isn't doing something illegal by providing this feature and so long as it doesn't violate any contract terms in contracts they currently have in place, CPs will have a hard time arguing their case.
After all, technological advances often make a company's product/revenue model obsolete, that doesn't mean the company harmed can sue the company with the innovative product because they've been harmed. (Buggy whip manufacturers and automobile development come to mind as a historical example. Or more recently, VCRs and DVRs.)
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I said argument. Specifically, an argument that came up in the ReplayTV case. I never suggested they would sue for measurable harm.
JPhil said:
Fair enough, but I'm going to stress this because there are so many people predicting that Dish will be sued into submission because of this feature.
They (CPs) can argue something until they're blue in the face, but unless the argument underpins an actionable (legitimate) legal claim, they're not going to get anywhere.
Harm suffered would come into play when determining damages, but before you get there you have to prove the theory under which you're suing. Based on what is known thus far, I'm not seeing a basis for a successful lawsuit.
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This I absolutely agree with. Imagine if there was a show like Game of Thrones on a broadcast network. Even if the extreme stuff was censored or cut off and they put in a couple breaks for ads, that show would still be compelling enough that people would want to watch it live.
And I would disagree. The solution is to, like Game of Thrones, produce content so compelling that viewers are actually willing to pay for (the full cost of) it.
You love it, he hates it, it's all good. 8-9M viewers tune in to watch GoT each episode and pay the premium, so HBO is going to keep it. That's all that matters.
As long as advertisers are footing the majority of the bill for the network programs that I enjoy, I'll consider pushing the skip button myself a very small price to pay.
As long as advertisers are footing the majority of the bill for the network programs that I enjoy, I'll consider pushing the skip button myself a very small price to pay.
One thing I noticed is that none of the networks are showing the new ads where the Boston guys talk about the Ad Skipping. They instead are showing ads which do not mention the feature.
What I find ironic is the chairman of NBC is not a fan of auto hop, but yet he still allows NBC to show commercials in which Dish talks about the Hopper.
Dish is really promoting "watch advertisement free TV" (of course with the fine print disclaimer that it only applies to pre recorded shows from the networks ). Not only is Dish rubbing this new feature in the network's faces but Dish will also have some upset new subscribers when the figure out how the feature really works and what its limitations are.
Why is it that whenever Dish comes out with a new feature that is pretty cool and a lot of people will like somebody comes on here and finds a way for customers to be upset about it. Why are customers going to be upset about this one now? I mean, it is a new feature added for no additional cost to the customer.
