Fox loses bid to block Dish’s AutoHop ad-skipping
News Corp.’s Fox Broadcasting unit lost its bid to block Dish Network Corp.’s ad-free primetime television service and its so-called AutoHop features before a copyright-infringement lawsuit has been resolved.
Dish and Fox issued separate statements saying that U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles had ruled on Fox’s request for a preliminary injunction. The ruling was filed under seal and couldn’t be independently confirmed.
“We are gratified the court found the copies Dish makes for its AutoHop service constitute copyright infringement and breach the parties’ contract,” Fox said in an e-mailed statement. “We are disappointed the court erred in finding that Fox’s damages were not suitable for a preliminary injunction.”
Fox Broadcasting Co., Comcast Corp.’s NBC Universal and CBS Corp. separately sued Dish, the No. 2 U.S. satellite-television provider, claiming the service will destroy the “advertising supported ecosystem” that provides free, over-the-air primetime television. Dish sued the networks in New York, seeking a court ruling that it isn’t infringing copyrights.
Richard Stone, a lawyer for Fox, said at a Sept. 21 hearing that other distributors, including DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite-television provider, will be forced to follow suit if Dish’s ad-free primetime television service isn’t blocked.
Wednesday’s ruling “is a victory for common sense and customer choice,” R. Stanton Dodge, general counsel for Englewood, Colorado-based Dish Network, said in an e-mailed statement. “The ruling underscores the U.S. Supreme Court’s ‘Betamax’ decision, with the court confirming a consumer’s right to enjoy television as they want, when they want.”
Fox said it intends to appeal the judge’s denial of their request for a preliminary injunction.
Dish introduced its Hopper digital video recorder in March. It can record all the major networks’ primetime shows and store them for eight days after their initial broadcast. AutoHop, introduced in May, allows viewers, with the touch of a button, to skip all the commercials on recorded shows automatically, without having to fast-forward through them.