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,

It’s been a busy day for Comcast, so we’ll catch you up on the key points. First, it announced today that it’s buying the 49 percent of NBCUniversal that it didn’t already own from General Electric in a deal worth about $16.7 billion, plus 30 Rockefeller Plaza and CNBC’s New Jersey headquarters for an additional $1.4 billion. That’s an acceleration of the original schedule, which gave Comcast the option to expand its ownership starting in 2014. In other news, Comcast reported its Q4 earnings, noting that while it still lost around 7,000 cable TV customers in Q4, the total number of video, internet and phone subscribers rose by 503,000 to a total of 51.3 million, up 3 percent from last year.

In other news, Comcast announced expansions in its rollout of the new X1 DVR platform. Already live in areas of Georgia, New Jersey, Boston, Tennessee, San Francisco and Philadelphia, it’s recently launched in Colorado Springs, CO with more promised in the coming months. It also locked down a deal with Fox that covers local broadcasts, cable TV networks and brings a number of the network’s shows to Xfinity streaming apps and services on other platforms. That deal also reveals that Fox will soon add TV Everywhere authenticated streaming to its Fox Now apps, which Comcast customers will be able to access. There’s an earnings call tomorrow where we may find out more details, for now you can look after the break and at the links below for the full press releases.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Comcast Voices, Comcast, Q4 Results

The TiVo Mini has yet to make its retail debut, but cable provider Suddenlink is now serving up the DVR extender for use with its own services. According to Zatz Not Funny, the outfit is pricing rentals of the boxes between $6 and $12 depending on a customer’s location, and presumably their service package as well. That rental fee nabs users the privilege of slinging live TV from a TiVo Premiere DVR on their network to another television set, in addition to searching for and watching recorded shows. While dynamic tuner allocation is on the hardware’s roadmap, it doesn’t appear to be switched on just yet. Waiting to pick up the hardware from retail shelves rather than take Suddenlink up on its offer? TiVo’s pint-sized offering is slated to ship this spring.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Zatz Not Funny

Nintendo’s Wii U was supposed to get TVii when the console launched back in late November. That did not happen. Then, when it did launch in late December, two key features were missing: TiVo and Netflix. Despite insistence that the former would arrive in January 2013, Nintendo tells us that both are delayed beyond January to an unknown point in “early 2013.” The company specifically notes that said integration is planned for the United States.

Google Maps and Street View, custom-tailored for the Wii U’s tablet-like GamePad, were also given a January 2013 launch window when we first heard back in early December that they were headed to the Wii U. As it turns out, those are also delayed, albeit to a more precise “first quarter of 2013.” This news comes on the heels of below expectation Wii U console sales, and word of not one, but two console updates coming later this year aimed at optimizing the hardware — an issue we struggled with during our review of the console last year.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Nintendo

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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.
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