Court of Appeals Upholds DISH Hopper Ruling — Again

[Scott Greczkowski]

Court of Appeals Upholds DISH Hopper Ruling — Again

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously denied Fox Broadcasting Company's petitions to rehear the court's July 2013 rejection of Fox's efforts to bar DISH subscribers from use of the PrimeTime AnytimeTM and AutoHopTM features found on the pay-TV provider's Hopper® Whole-Home HD DVR.

The PrimeTime Anytime feature provides consumers with the ability to easily record primetime shows on up to each of the four broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) and save them for up to eight days. The AutoHop feature provides consumers the ability to play back certain PrimeTime Anytime recordings commercial-free, starting the day after broadcast.

The following statement can be attributed to DISH Executive Vice President and General Counsel, R. Stanton Dodge:

"With this decision, the Court continues to reject Fox's efforts to deny our customers' access to PrimeTime Anytime and AutoHop -- key features of the Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR.
"This is a victory for American consumers, and we are proud to have stood by their side in this important fight over the fundamental rights of consumer choice and control."

 

[ekilgus]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Direct TV, Comcast and a couple of others also have a commercial skipping feature ready to go and are just waiting to see how this plays out in the courts.
This, I think, is probably known to the networks which is why they so desperately want to kill AutoHop.

 

[Tampa8]

Just as a reminder, these rejections are for an injunction, not to the question itself of it being legal. It bodes well however that no court will issue an injunction because that does mean on the surface they do not find an imminent legal issue or imminent harm.

 

[Claude Greiner]

A small victory for Dish now, but they still got to pay for retransmission. When the contracts come up for renewal, Dish will be crying wolf when the rates go up dramatically.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

[Yespage]

Just as a reminder, these rejections are for an injunction, not to the question itself of it being legal. It bodes well however that no court will issue an injunction because that does mean on the surface they do not find an imminent legal issue or imminent harm.

I don't know if there will ever be a decision on this technology that'll have standing. Everything will be On Demand by the time they actually rule on the final of all appeals in ten to fifteen years.

A small victory for Dish now, but they still got to pay for retransmission. When the contracts come up for renewal, Dish will be crying wolf when the rates go up dramatically.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

But the stations are already getting paid per viewer as it is, unlike OTA viewers. The only way the stations make money with OTA viewers is by eyeballs seeing the commercials. The channels are raking money in per subscriber on Dish or Directv, whether they even watched the show or not. I'm paying to watch locals I barely ever watch.

 

[Teehar]

:neener:neener to Fox

 

[cosmo_kramer]

A small victory for Dish now, but they still got to pay for retransmission. When the contracts come up for renewal, Dish will be crying wolf when the rates go up dramatically.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Sure you can. I did at my nephew's birthday party last weekend...

 

[bellevuecoug]

A small victory for Dish now, but they still got to pay for retransmission. When the contracts come up for renewal, Dish will be crying wolf when the rates go up dramatically.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Ah, but what if Direct and Xfinity likewise have such a device at some point soon? What is Fox going to do? Sue everybody? Jack the rates on everybody? Fight with everybody?

Maybe they should just let it go . . .

 

[dangue]

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Tell that to the networks. They're the one trying to get paid for retransmission fees AND commercials. That sort of double dipping is the epitome of having your cake and eating it too.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[dfergie]

Fox released a statement on Friday saying: "We are disappointed in the decision but recognize that preliminary injunctions are rarely overturned on appeal. That said, the ruling was based on a factual record from more than a year ago. Now that we have gathered more evidence, we are confident that we will ultimately prevail on all of our claims."

hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Teehar]

Fox released a statement on Friday saying: "We are disappointed in the decision but recognize that preliminary injunctions are rarely overturned on appeal. That said, the ruling was based on a factual record from more than a year ago. Now that we have gathered more evidence, we are confident that we will ultimately prevail on all of our claims."

hollywoodreporter.com

:dead

 

[dfergie]

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals may have nixed Fox again today in its efforts to shut down Dish Network’s ad-zapping DVR service, but the network still sees victory down the line. “We are disappointed in the decision but recognize that preliminary injunctions are rarely overturned on appeal,” said a Fox Networks Group spokesperson after the court today unanimously rejected Fox’s petition of last August.

deadline.comhttp://www.deadline.com/2014/01/fox...networks-hooper-dvr-despite-rehearing-denial/

 

[riffjim4069]

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I've always hated that expression. If I can't eat my cake, then I don't even want it. Why even have cake if you can't eat it? I would just as soon eat your cake and not have any for myself, which I couldn't eat anyway.

 

[Claude Greiner]

My whole point is that its going to get to the poing that there will be 2 retransmission rates. 1 for customers who do not have their commercials automatically skipped, and ones who do and have the hopper.

Dish customers are at one point going to have to pay for the ability not to have the commercials

 

[3HaloODST]

My whole point is that its going to get to the poing that there will be 2 retransmission rates. 1 for customers who do not have their commercials automatically skipped, and ones who do and have the hopper.

Dish customers are at one point going to have to pay for the ability not to have the commercials

In your wildest dreams... I bet if this were DirecTV we were talking about you'd immediately jump on board and say it's the best thing since color TV.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using Forum Runner

 

[bellevuecoug]

My whole point is that its going to get to the poing that there will be 2 retransmission rates. 1 for customers who do not have their commercials automatically skipped, and ones who do and have the hopper.

Dish customers are at one point going to have to pay for the ability not to have the commercials

I pay $ 12 for the Hopper and $ 7 each for two Joeys. Aren't I paying already?

 

[Claude Greiner]

In your wildest dreams... I bet if this were DirecTV we were talking about you'd immediately jump on board and say it's the best thing since color TV.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using Forum Runner

Directv is not skipping commercials on the Genie (YET) so at this point its a battle between the broadcasters and Dish.

The battle lines are being drawn in the sand. Its gonna happen, and when it does there will be dozens of Network take downs as Dish is forced to pay the higher rates.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Even though Directv has ad skipping technology ready to go I think they are smart to sit on the sidelines and let DISH fight the fight for them.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[dangue]

Directv is not skipping commercials on the Genie (YET) so at this point its a battle between the broadcasters and Dish. The battle lines are being drawn in the sand. Its gonna happen, and when it does there will be dozens of Network take downs as Dish is forced to pay the higher rates.

There have been network retransmission deals since Autohop has been around and not a single instance (so far) where Autohop has been disabled, customers of those locals being charged a surcharge, or locals being permanently taken off of Dish.

Your take on it might have been accurate if ABC owned all ABC affiliates, CBS owned all CBS affiliates, etc. But that's not the case and therefore the broadcasters' bargaining power isn't the same since only a small segment of customers are affected (as opposed to all customers when a cable channel gets disputed). So your dooms day scenario (for Dish and its subs, ideal situation for broadcasters) will be much harder for broadcasters to cause to occur.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Scherrman]

Sure you can. I did at my nephew's birthday party last weekend...

I thought is was that you couldn't have any pudding unless you eat your meat. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?