DISH Sues Networks

[Tampa8]

There is no state or federal laws that say it's illegal to skip commercials, right? So the networks are sueing based on contract disputes. Do the current contracts state anything about DISH giving user's the ability to skip commercials?

It will be fun to watch this all unfold.

It does seem the Networks need to negotiate this at contract time rather than try and outlaw it. I'm sure they are trying to "head it off at the pass." But as I said in another post, some people seen to have it in their head only Dish will do this and Dish will suffer. I think by going to court so soon, probably losing, the Networks are actually speeding up the process for others to do it. They just don't get it - they need to use technology instead of fight it, short of pirating of course.

 

[whatchel1]

Obviously, you haven't been around for very long. Dish has a long record of irritating program providers and keeping their lawyers fully employed. And yet, they are still in business, innovating, and thriving.

The lawyers on retainer anyway. So the price is already being paid.

 

[demsd]

DISH should be focusing on that 2.5 billion breach of contract suit and be more concerned with losing subs if they kill AMC.

 

[demsd]

There is no state or federal laws that say it's illegal to skip commercials, right?

No law that says you can't close your eyes, plug your ears or leave the room either.

ReplayTV had its headaches with their Autoskip feature too [and removed it in 2003]. DVR's have been around awhile, we can record and skip over commercials as it is, which is the biggest issue the networks had with ReplayTV's Autoskip feature, so I don't see what all the guff is about. The networks should put more effort into programming.

 

[Frank Jr.]

As I understand it (correct me if I am wrong) commercials pay for programing and the networks infrastructure. The overwhelming desire to be able to skip commercials for me is a result of the networks not being able to properly regulate themselves with respect to commercials. When I was young, commercials weren't so much of a problem or an aggravation. Commercials became a problem when they got louder than the program I was watching, the number and length of commercials in a program and the content of the commercials. Excuse me but I don't want to hear about men or woman's genital issues on tv. That kind of stuff can be restricted to magazines or looked up on the internet if one desires. On another note a lot of commercials boarder on false advertising and the rest really don't inform people about their product.

I applaud Dish and hope they are successful with this. If my Dish bill goes up because of this, it is one rate increase I wouldn't mind.

 

[hazmat626]

+1

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[cave1376]

When do the network renewals begin?

 

[KAB]

When do the network renewals begin?

Dish has no renewals with the NETWORKS. They do with their affiliates...and all over the calendar. Another reason this will go nowhere. TOO MANY station owners stand too much to lose.

 

[mike123abc]

Dish has no renewals with the NETWORKS. They do with their affiliates...and all over the calendar. Another reason this will go nowhere. TOO MANY station owners stand too much to lose.

As long as Dish does not offer to hop over commercials in local news, the locals should stay happy.

 

[osu1991]

Dish has no renewals with the NETWORKS. They do with their affiliates...and all over the calendar. Another reason this will go nowhere. TOO MANY station owners stand too much to lose.

Actually they will have to deal with the Networks for the Owned and Operated stations.

Sent from my Toshiba Thrive

 

[cave1376]

So when the affiliates come up for renewal, can the network tell the affiliate, Dish needs to shut off the auto hop, as part of its renewal? Or will it be up to the affiliate?

 

[dfergie]

So when the affiliates come up for renewal, can the network tell the affiliate, Dish needs to shut off the auto hop, as part of its renewal? Or will it be up to the affiliate?

I believe that would be interference, might be wrong but...

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

One thing that worries me is that NBC might (could) decide to block DISH customers from accessing the online Olympics coverage.

I am an Olympics junkie and hope I get to see as much as I can.

 

[mcasdorph]

While people should be able to choose what they watch, I still believe in commercials, without them we would pay higher fee's or maybe not even have the channels, that is their revenue, I think they could do something different, like scroll ads at the bottom and eliminate the "away time", might actually be better for the companies being advertised as the viewers wont be surfing during commercials or skipping them all together.

 

[osu1991]

We have enough on screen clutter without them adding more scrolls. Weather scrolls, news scrolls, sports scrolls etc...

 

[demsd]

As I understand it (correct me if I am wrong) commercials pay for programing and the networks infrastructure.

Advertisers purchase ad space based on the programming and its demographics. The advent of the DVR has had little effect on advertisers buying ad space, as you said, there are not less commercials but more. Personally, I can't stand commercials and always skip over them.

I also don't foresee advertisers advertising less. I would expect that if the AutoHop feature is found to not violate any agreements, etc, the networks will just find ways around the technology.

 

[Frank Jr.]

Advertisers purchase ad space based on the programming and its demographics. The advent of the DVR has had little effect on advertisers buying ad space, as you said, there are not less commercials but more. Personally, I can't stand commercials and always skip over them.

I also don't foresee advertisers advertising less. I would expect that if the AutoHop feature is found to not violate any agreements, etc, the networks will just find ways around the technology.

So far they haven't found a really good solution to the skip forward button on my remote. As I indicated and explained in my prior post, the networks have themselves to blame for this.

 

[cave1376]

Maybe the networks will start using a crawl or use p.i.p. to advertise.

 

[Jhon69]

It does seem the Networks need to negotiate this at contract time rather than try and outlaw it. I'm sure they are trying to "head it off at the pass." But as I said in another post, some people seen to have it in their head only Dish will do this and Dish will suffer. I think by going to court so soon, probably losing, the Networks are actually speeding up the process for others to do it. They just don't get it - they need to use technology instead of fight it, short of pirating of course.

The networks will use technology....as an excuse to raise fees if they lose in the courts,commercials pay for the product,if you don't see the sponsors advertising that pays for the product, subscription fees will have to increase.Scott does the same thing here,you become a paid Pub member you don't see,or see less commercials(advertising) than those who don't.I also think this is very bad timing especially like Scott said...It's an Olympics year.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I See the networks just adding a scroll bar on all their shows with ticker tape graphics and minature people hopping around on the screen to advertise their commercials. Also they could just start adding product placements in the shows themselves with the actors talking about the products as part of the show. Whole episodes could be devoted to a certain line of products as their theme . They used to do this in the 50s and I can see it making a return if they want to counter the auto hop feature.