# Dish Network giving up ad-skipping tech in deals with broadcasters



## Athlon646464 (Feb 23, 2007)

*Dish Network giving up ad-skipping tech in deals with broadcasters*

(bizjournals.com) - A detail lost in some of the noise over Dish Network Corp. resolving its contract spat with CBS last week was this: the satellite TV company gave up some commercial-skipping features of its Hopper set-top box to get a deal....

Full Story Here


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

He hasn't given up the feature, only delayed when it will work. Big difference.

For me it is ho-hum to have to wait 7 days to have auto-skip for a program since I'm generally that far behind anyway.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

So can viewers still manually FF through commercials?


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Herdfan said:


> So can viewers still manually FF through commercials?


Yes. I use the 30-second skip all the time when auto-hop isn't available.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

This statement is not true. Mods please adjust this headline
Before we had to wait till the next day for the auto skip to work.
Now we wait even more days. It still works
And the extra delay is only for cbs owned stations.


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## RBA (Apr 14, 2013)

scottchez said:


> This statement is not true. Mods please adjust this headline
> Before we had to wait till the next day for the auto skip to work.
> Now we wait even more days. It still works
> And the extra delay is only for cbs owned stations.


Check the Disney settlement I think ABC has a 5 day delay. I expect that each new negotiated contract may have this feature added it is cheaper than law suits.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The headline comes from "bizjournals.com" ... it is their summary of the story they have written.

I agree that "DISH Network delays ad skipping tech in deals with two broadcasters" would be more accurate. But I don't get to change "bizjournals.com" headlines. Accurate or not the headline is what they have written.


BTW: ABC's agreement was "C3" ... or delayed until after the third day (on ABC owned stations).


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## camo (Apr 15, 2010)

Wait 7 days. So much for the hopper, it's only a matter of time all get the same deal as CBS. Meanwhile Charlie will continue his feeble effort to protect his customers and keep cost down. :righton:


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

RBA said:


> Check the Disney settlement I think ABC has a 5 day delay. I expect that each new negotiated contract may have this feature added it is cheaper than law suits.


Disney's deal was for 3 days.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

camo said:


> Wait 7 days. So much for the hopper, it's only a matter of time all get the same deal as CBS. Meanwhile Charlie will continue his feeble effort to protect his customers and keep cost down. :righton:


LOL!

The Hopper has so much going for it that a longer than previous delay for auto-hop is nearly a ho-hum happening!

And I don't think Charlie is feeble in his attempts to keep costs down, I suspect that Dish's harder line in negotiations results in both D* and E* getting better deals than they would otherwise. But since they are held in secret, neither you nor I actually know.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Networks need to make better programming.

The better the programming the more likely I am to watch it the same day (before Auto-Hop is available) or during C3 or C7 (when commercials that are time sensitive are more valuable).

Once programming hits a recorder (any recorder - not just the Hopper) the commercials start losing their value. If I am watching TV while distracted (another sign of less than captivating programming) I might not have the remote in my hand and might not skip all the commercials. Auto-Hop fixes that by skipping the commercials for me. But for the most part, once the program is recorded the commercials are gone at the (multiple) press of a single button ... and the (multiple) press of a different single button if I skip too far.

BTW: The "SKIP FWD" button on the Hopper allows for multiple skips. Press it four times and skip two minutes. One does not have to see a second of two of commercials between each press.

The better the programming the more likely I am to watch same night or even live. The lesser programs are the ones I leave on the DVR for more than a week (after "C7"). Any time sensitive commercials have lost value by then. If I get too many weeks behind the decision comes to either catching up or letting go. Either way, I am not watching commercials.

Make better programs.


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## Athlon646464 (Feb 23, 2007)

scottchez said:


> This statement is not true. Mods please adjust this headline
> Before we had to wait till the next day for the auto skip to work.
> Now we wait even more days. It still works
> And the extra delay is only for cbs owned stations.


When I reference a web site (bizjournals.com), as I did in the first post here, I do not change their headline or their text. Because I am copying their text that would not be the right thing to do.

You may, however, while discussing the story, point out something you disagree with - as you have done.

I agree with Mr. Long on this......


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

The article got the headline wrong... Athlon got it right the way he posted it... and I agree with James, when we reference an article we reference their exact headline even if it is wrong.

Meanwhile...

Way way back when AutoHop was first announced, I remember being in the small group of people here who said it was likely ultimately a negotiating ploy for Charlie to have in his back pocket. He proved it was possible to implement, and then he had chips to stack when the "big four" came to the table for negotiations. This was never a big feature to me. Sure it's cool... but I can skip commercials manually with very little difficulty... Dish doing for me wasn't the must-have feature for the Hopper. The Hopper has a lot of other good things going for it that aren't negotiable.

As for the delays... you can still watch whatever you record immediately and skip commercials manually... you can still save recordings outside the PTAT window and watch them later with the AutoHop feature if you want. This should be a little deal to Dish subscribers in terms of convenience of access... but it's a big deal in helping to curb programming costs and keep our bills down.

Bravo to Charlie and Dish for the innovation.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

scottchez said:


> This statement is not true. Mods please adjust this headline
> Before we had to wait till the next day for the auto skip to work.
> Now we wait even more days. It still works
> And the extra delay is only for cbs owned stations.


This headline??:

Dish Network giving up ad-skipping tech in deals with broadcasters

For many people, waiting a week is tantamount to it not being there at all. Calling for Mod intervention isn't called for!


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

It is interesting people seem more upset about the headline than DISH agreeing to delay AutoHop in a few markets for a few days.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

Rarely use autohop.

I record but watch the same day, my finger is programmed to hot the Skip Fwd key at the first sign of a commercial break.

If I happen to use Auto Hop my finger often screws it up by hitting the Skip FWD button before Auto Hop can kick in, so while it is a curiosity, It is not a big deal at all.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Not that I use autohop that much but as far as I can tell it works the same as it always has when I do use it, not sure why anyone thinks it's gone and/or going away, sounds like uninformed reporting by someone who doesn't have first hand knowledge of what they're writing about. If it's something Dish can use as a "negotiating chip" at the table when making deals with the big 4 networks good for them, especially since like I said as far as I can tell it has little or no effect on the usefulness of the feature. I guess if you don't like that autohop has been somehow "compromised" you can always switch providers and get it somewhere else, oh wait that's right you can't, Dish is the only one that has it in any form at all.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Athlon646464 said:


> You may, however, while discussing the story, point out something you disagree with - as you have done.


Since it is a news item here, it should be correct (or noted as inaccurate).

Reblogging doesn't mean you have to post known false information in the name of Fair Use.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

James Long said:


> It is interesting people seem more upset about the headline than DISH agreeing to delay AutoHop in a few markets for a few days.


If the headline were true, there would likely be more uproar. As it is, many aren't affected by the change.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

The headline is true, just quite misleading! 
[Film at 11:00]


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## Athlon646464 (Feb 23, 2007)

harsh said:


> Since it is a news item here, it should be correct (or noted as inaccurate).
> 
> Reblogging doesn't mean you have to post known false information in the name of Fair Use.


I never knowing post false stories or information.

Although the headline from this story is turning out to be a bit ambiguous, in my view it does not warrant a change here. DISH actually has made a change to the Hopper.


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## Whogaman (Feb 6, 2008)

If some who have a backlog of shows to watch, it might take 3 weeks rather than 3 days to watch them all. I think it's a tempest in a teapot. the ad skip feature will still work and is not permanently disabled. so what if you can't skip commercials on the day of broadcast. If you are like me, I still have shows I recorded last summer. Relax. It's all good.

Peace Whoga


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Whogaman said:


> If some who have a backlog of shows to watch, it might take 3 weeks rather than 3 days to watch them all. I think it's a tempest in a teapot. the ad skip feature will still work and is not permanently disabled. so what if you can't skip commercials on the day of broadcast. If you are like me, I still have shows I recorded last summer. Relax. It's all good.
> 
> Peace Whoga


And the other thing is, you can still skip the commercials, you just have to use the skip button like you do on the other 200 plus channels, it's just the auto-hop feature that's delayed and that's only if you live in a O&O area for abc or CBS. There's an awful lot of people like me out there who won't even notice any difference at all.


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## thomasjk (Jan 10, 2006)

The autohop delay for CBS also applies to affiliates.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

thomasjk said:


> The autohop delay for CBS also applies to affiliates.


No it doesn't. I've been able to use auto-hop next day on my local CBS which is not O&O.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

tsmacro said:


> No it doesn't. I've been able to use auto-hop next day on my local CBS which is not O&O.


You expected it to change immediately??
I doubt it is implemented yet in the O&O markets.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

lparsons21 said:


> You expected it to change immediately??
> I doubt it is implemented yet in the O&O markets.


Pretty much, figured once the contract was signed Dish would've sent it in one of their nightly updates, they wouldn't want to be out of compliance with the deal they signed and leave themselves open to litigation. The only reason why I even noticed is that last week I watched Big Bang Theory the next night and it offered me the ability to use auto-hop at the time and something in the back of my mind said "wait a minute isn't that on CBS?". Given that experience you can see why I thought it must be O&O only, that and my abc has never had that 3 day delay either between the two the evidence seemed to be pointing in the direction of O&O only. In any case it's really a non-issue for me anyway, don't really care if I have to skip commercials with the skip button or with auto-hop it's not like it's taking away your ability to skip commercials.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

ABC's deal didn't include the affiliates, only the O&O's. I suspect as the local non-O&O's contracts come up, that will be a point of the negotiation since the parent got it.

As to when for CBS, the contracts may not actually have been fully signed yet. You know the lawyers need to show something for the big bill they will generate, right?  And in the contracts it may not require an immediate start of anything negotiated except the price paid. We'll never know for sure though.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

I did go back and check the announcement regarding their carriage deal and you are right it does specifically say that affiliates will be included. Oh well, like I said, no big deal anyway, guess they'll probably getting around to sending that next software update since it hasn't happened yet, probably is something in the contract that says they have "x" amount of time to implement it I would imagine.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

It took a few months before anyone reported the delay in AutoHop on ABC in O&O markets. It may take a while before the programming can be adjusted for CBS. If anyone other than CBS gets upset that skipping is still available they probably should be ignored.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

Athlon646464 said:


> I never knowing post false stories or information.
> 
> Although the headline from this story is turning out to be a bit ambiguous, in my view it does not warrant a change here. DISH actually has made a change to the Hopper.


The title of this thread should be "Dish Network delays their ad-skipping tech in deals with local channel broadcasters,but trick play functions will still work like they always have".


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## festivus (Nov 10, 2008)

Wait until broadcasters demand that DVR users NEVER be able to skip ads. Not even via the skip or FF.

Don't laugh. I noted years ago that it's coming. This seems to be a logical first step.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

festivus said:


> Wait until broadcasters demand that DVR users NEVER be able to skip ads. Not even via the skip or FF.
> 
> Don't laugh. I noted years ago that it's coming. This seems to be a logical first step.


Not laughing, but that ship sailed a long time ago. Not gonna happen.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Athlon646464 said:


> DISH actually has made a change to the Hopper.


DISH has NOT made a change to the Hopper. They will make a change to how it works for some customers but many will not be impacted by it.

The article and the associated headline suggest that DISH is disabling AutoHop and that's just plain false.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

harsh said:


> DISH has NOT made a change to the Hopper. They will make a change to how it works for some customers but many will not be impacted by it.
> 
> The article and the associated headline suggest that DISH is disabling AutoHop and that's just plain false.


For that matter some people seem to have gotten the impression that they won't be able to skip ads at all on CBS.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Some people are gullible, some are fools, others careless. 

Some hate DISH, some hate DIRECTV. 

Nothing really new.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

tsmacro said:


> For that matter some people seem to have gotten the impression that they won't be able to skip ads at all on CBS.


Maybe they think that and won't even try. Win for CBS.


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