Welcome to the cable news roundup, T.G.I.F. edition.
Dish Network Corp. and the combination of CBS, Fox and NBC are setting up a court battle over AutoHop, a new feature for Dish's Hopper HD-DVR that skips commercials captured by PrimeTime Anytime, a service that automatically records the primetime slate of the four major broadcasters. The broadcasters say AutoHop is a copyright violation, claiming Dish doesn't have the authority to tamper with their ads. Dish, meanwhile, is seeking a declaratory ruling that its "user-enabled" AutoHop feature does not infringe copyrights that could be claimed by the networks, holding that the ad-zapping element is in compliance with Dish's retransmission agreements. (See Dish Sticks It to the Broadcasters .)
As an ironic side note in this case, Dish is whining that CBS, Fox and NBC have rejected ads promoting Dish's Hopper HD-DVR.
Pressure groups Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge have come to the defense of Aereo Inc., which is facing lawsuits from broadcasters over a service that takes in over-the-air TV signals and relays them to subscribers over broadband. The consumer advocates, like Aereo, claim the service does not violate copyright rules because it provides customers with access to their own individual antennas, hence meeting the "public goal of preserving the ability of viewers to watch free-to-air TV." (See Aereo's Service Wins a Reprieve (for Now).)
Roku Inc. users are gaining access to more than 50 international programming channels starting at $19.99 per month after the streaming set-top maker struck a deal to offer the DISHWorld service. The deal means Roku customers can subscribe to these programming packages without having to also take Dish Network's satellite TV service.
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