Hasta La Gadget!

Last year, Dish Network introduced a feature to its DVRs to allow its subscribers to skip commercials. This Auto Hop feature isn’t the only innovation Dish Network has implemented into its DVR as just recently, it has made it possible for its subscribers to watch live television on their mobile devices through the company’s Sling technology. As worthwhile as that feature is, it looks as though FOX is none too pleased with it and has filed for an injection against Dish to have the feature banned.

The reason why FOX has become such a spoilsport is due to the fact Dish Network’s new service breaches its licensing agreement, with Dish infringing on its network’s copyrights. Fox mentions in the filing “paying Dish for a satellite television subscription does not buy anyone the right to receive Fox’s live broadcast signal over the internet or to make copies of Fox programs to watch ‘on the go’ because Dish does not have the right to offer these services to its subscribers in the first place.”

Hopefully FOX’s outrage over this new feature on Dish Network’s Hopper DVR won’t lead them to ban the feature as we’re sure many Dish Network customers are probably enjoying it while they’re away from their TVs.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony BDP-S5100 Blu-ray Disc Player Announced, Panasonic Introduces ‘My Home Screen’ And Other Apps To Offer Unique TV Interactions,

Dish Network has been a source of controversy for many months now thanks to its AutoHop commercial-skipping feature, which allows users to automatically skip commercials in DVR recordings. Broadcast networks have stated that such a feature is detrimental to the industry as a whole, which earns quite a bit of revenue through the advertisements. Dish’s chairman Charlie Ergen has responded to this criticism in an interview with AllThingsD, stating that he doesn’t want to kill commercials.

Says Ergen: “I don’t want to kill ads. I think advertising is great. I am very aware of the multiple revenue stream in television, subscription and advertising. But I also don’t want to put my head in the sand. As an example, Hulu did a good job. You can pick an ad that is relevant to you. With the Hopper, we have technology that allows you to pick an ad relevant to you. But the broadcast industry is slow to adapt to that.”

He then went on to detail that he’s trying to show networks how they can make more money from targeted commercials by providing advertisements relevant to the subscribers, as well as less commercials overall. He used Hulu as an example, pointing out that subscribers can select the advertisement they want to see, rather than being forced to watch something they have no interest in.

This follows a lawsuit against Dish Network by multiple networks, including Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC, with Fox stating that the feature constitutes copyright infringement as well as undermining the industry. On January 22, CBS claimed that Dish Network had deliberately hid the AutoHop feature during negotiations, something it is trying to use to get permission to file a counterclaim of fraud against the company.

[via CNET]

Dish Network’s chairman says he doesn’t want to kill advertisements, talks about AutoHop is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It would appear that the news of CNET’s official kicking of DISH’s Hopper technology from their “Best Of CES” list on orders from parent company CBS has cost them their spot as the official partner running the awards program. CNET has been the official CES partner in charge of selecting the Best of CES awards for several years but will, according to the press release from CES today, no longer be a part of the program from this point forward. The events that lead up to this situation involve CBS – the parent company of CNET at the moment – and their litigation against DISH, and it’s not pretty.

The original selection for best of show for CES 2013 by the staff at CNET was DISH’s Hopper with Sling Whole-Home HD DVR. When they announced this, CBS essentially swatted them down, telling them that they’d have to re-select the best because of an ongoing legal battle between CBS and DISH. The staff re-selected the best of show as the Razer Edge gaming tablet and that was that. Except that wasn’t that, and a massive fallout began to unfold.

In addition to bad blood and some jobs being self-terminated due to “journalistic integrity”, essentially, the largest result appears to be the Consumer Electronica Association taking back sole control of the CES awards. The CEA runs CES, if you did not know, and CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro has let loose some harsh words for the likes of CBS and CNET, including, but not limited to: “We are shocked that the ‘Tiffany’ network which is known for its high journalistic standards would bar all its reporters from favorably describing classes of technology the network does not like.”

This set of words included in the note released today also brought forth the fact that the CEA will soon be looking for new help. The CEA has announced that they’ll be issuing a request for proposal (RFP) aimed at identifying a new partner to run the Best of CES awards program from this point forward.

This request is joined by assurances that “CES has enjoyed a long and productive partnership with CNET and the Best of CES awards” but that “the new review policy will have a negative impact on our brand should we continue the awards relationship as currently constructed.” This is of course in reference to the CBS edict that no reviews will be posted by CNET if they include products or technology currently included in litigation involving the company.

What do you think about this whole situation? Are you on one side of the argument or the other, or do you simply not know where you stand on everything at once?

[via CES]

CEA seeks new Best of CES partner amid DISH debacle is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Dish Network‘s Auto Hop feature has been the target of more than a few legal proceedings, with networks crying foul over its commercial-deleting abilities. Now, admist the controversy already surrounding the device, is a claim by CBS that Dish Network intentionally concealed Auto Hop during negotiations, something it is none to happy about. According to the network, not providing the information completely altered the resulting deal.

As a result of the alleged impropriety on Dish’s part, CBS is trying to get permission to file counterclaims of fraud in regards to the Auto Hop omission. In recompense, CBS wants to either have Dish pay up damages that resulted from the revenue loss resulting from the deal, or to have the deal between them nixed.

According to CBS, advertisement revenue was specifically one of the perks it would receive under a retransmission agreement between the two companies. This all resulted when it was revealed that Dish had planned to roll out its device with Auto Hop when it was in negotiations with CBS, making the lack of communication on its part a deliberate concealment.

This comes after a ruling back on November 7 that Dish’s Primetime and Auto Hop wouldn’t be blocked, something Fox was actively pursuing. Earlier in the year, NBC’s chairman was vocal in his opposition to the feature, calling it an attack on the television ecosystem. The company would then go on to sue Dish, along with Fox and NBC, over the feature.

[via The Verge]

CBS says Dish Network pulled a fast one, hid Auto Hop during negotiations is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Dish Network have made it clear that they’re going to go hardcore with their business tactics when it comes to attaining Clearwire – their methods including hitting the competition where it hurts: Sprint’s merger with Softbank. Several months ago Softbank made a bid to attain US-based Sprint while Sprint made a bid to attain Clearwire, their ability to purchase Clearwire being based on they themselves being purchased by Softbank. Because Dish Network sees Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint as contingent on Sprint’s future purchase of Clearwire, they’ve filed for the whole stack of cards to come tumbling down.

A regulatory filing has been filed this week by Dish Network that they hope will ultimately leave Sprint on its own without the cash to purchase Clearwire, leaving them able to do so themselves. The following fact list should make this situation rather clear to you – or to the FCC – or both! Have a peek at how this is all about to go down – these are in chronological order, mind you:

1. Sprint owns 50% of Clearwire (and has since before these dealings started last year).

2. Softbank enters into agreement to purchase Sprint (a controlling interest, that is, 70% of the company) for $20.1bn USD. This deal remains under consideration by the FCC to this day.

3. Sprint offers Clearwire $2.90 USD a share for all remaining shares ($2.1bn USD contingent on Softbank deal going through)

4. Softbank limits Sprint’s bid on Clearwire to $2.97 a share ($2.2bn total) and Clearwire accepts. (December 14th, 2012) NOTE: Bloomberg reports here now on January 17th, 2013, that the following is true: “While it has made no decision to reconsider Sprint’s offer, Clearwire said it plans to talk to Dish, which is led by Chairman Charlie Ergen, and will keep its options open by not drawing on financing offered by Sprint.”

5. According to CNET, Dish Network makes an unsolicited bid of $3.30 USD a share for the stocks they’ve just agreed to sell to Sprint, (this being the same 50% of Clearwire not yet owned by Sprint), this totaling $5.15bn USD. Clearwire states that it is “severely limited by its current contractual obligations.” (January 8th, 2013)

6. Dish initiates regulatory filing with FCC that you can access at the FCC right now with a big fat “REQUEST TO HOLD PROCEEDING IN ABEYANCE” neat the head:

“DISH Network L.L.C. (“DISH”) requests that the above-captioned proceeding, for which petitions to deny are currently due January 28, 2013, be held in abeyance, and that the “shot clock” in this proceeding be paused, until the resolution of significant unresolved contingencies concerning Sprint Nextel Corporation’s (“Sprint”) offer to acquire all of Clearwire Corporation (“Clearwire”). In this proceeding, Sprint seeks not only the authority to be acquired by SoftBank Corporation (“SoftBank”); it also requests authority to acquire the stock of Clearwire that it does not already own, as well as de facto control over Clearwire.

But Sprint’s acquisition of control over Clearwire is subject to, among other things, a vote of the non-Sprint shareholders in the face of a higher value offer made by DISH and Clearwire’s response to DISH’s offer. These contingencies make SoftBank’s and Sprint’s applications unripe for consideration.” – Dish Network

They add the following – and a whole lot more that you can read on your own if you wish – including reference to “the Eagle River purchase.” Eagle River is the group from which whoever ends up purchasing the remaining shares of Clearwire will be buying them from, clean and simple. Also included is a reference to “Crest”, this being Crest Financial, a minority stakeholder in Clearwire and one of two groups seeking the FCC’s reconsideration in approving Sprint’s purchase of the remaining stocks in Clearwire (the other being Dish). This is Dish Network’s case:

“Moreover, whether the Eagle River purchase gave Sprint de facto control (as Crest alleges) or not (as Clearwire does), there is no doubt that it facilitates the acceptance of Sprint’s offer to buy the rest of Clearwire. First things first: the Commission should evaluate the propriety of the cursory treatment received by the Eagle River purchase before it takes up the larger SoftBank-Sprint transaction. ” – Dish Network

So it’s a good time had by all! It would seem that if Dish Network is successful detaching Softbank’s deal with Sprint to pick up Clearwire, the remaining stocks would probably be delivered to Dish with a bow. It all depends on the FCC though, of course, and we’ll be watching this deal closely as it continues to unfold through the Spring of 2013.

Bonus! AT&T carefully objected to the Softbank/Sprint acquisition two days after it was announced, well before the Clearwire dealings, too!

[via CNET]

Dish demands FCC see Softbank-Sprint deal “unripe for consideration” is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.