Fox, CBS and NBC Suing Dish

Several top broadcasters, which include Fox, CBS and NBC, have chosen to sue the Dish Network Corporation. The lawsuit was filed earlier this week, as these leading broadcasters claim to be suing Dish because of a service they offer in which users can enjoy TV without any commercials. Dish is known for being one of the largest providers of satellite television in the United States and they have decided to file a lawsuit as well, wanting a clear for their AutoHop technology, which can be used by people who want to skip advertisements while watching the television programs that they enjoy.

Dish said that the services they are providing, which just launched earlier in the month, is not in violation of any copyrights and has been supported by consumers. In the meantime, this has caused quite the controversy, as the question is asked as to whether or not distributors of television have the ability to completely eliminate commercials just so that consumers can enjoy television without having to watch the commercials or if it is in the hands of the consumers, since they are the people who control their television with the click of their remote.

Since the beginning of May, Dish had been advertising for its new DVR service, which is referred to as the Primetime Anytime service, allowing customers to access programs that have been aired on primetime within the past week. These programs are television shows that are featured on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, without any commercials added in. Many of these major broadcasters are not happy with this new service that Dish is providing and feel as though they are violating an agreement that has been made between the two companies, which is why a lawsuit was filed.

In the lawsuit, these broadcasters claim that the service is providing unlicensed video on demand to their customers, especially since the recording are located on the hard drive of the DVR, which is not controlled by the broadcasters but is instead controlled by Dish. Fox allows its regular programs to be played on the Video on Demand feature for its consumers but the main condition is that the commercials cannot be fast forwarded. This means that if someone is watching a Fox program on demand, they still have to sit through all of the commercials. Fox believes that if this service is not stopped, there will be major issues.

Dish continues to say that its services are designed for the users and that it is basically not any different from the way that DVRs are used constantly. They also point out that the viewers have been using their DVR features to skip commercials with the use of a remote control. They claim they are only providing consumers with what they want, which is control over what they are watching.