One of the leading satellite companies in the US,
DISH Network Corporation
(
DISH
) has filed a lawsuit against four major broadcasting companies
Walt Disney Co.
's (
DIS
) ABC,
CBS Corporation
(
CBS
),
News Corp.
(
NWSA
) owned Fox network and
Comcast Corp.
(
CMCSA
)-owned NBC Universal seeking a declaratory judgment to make DISH's
recently launched Auto Hop technology acceptable among these
broadcasting companies.
The new Primetime Anytime service offered by DISH through its
Auto Hop technology to premium HD subscribers, allows users to skip
commercials at the time of watching recorded TV-shows.
However, these broadcasting networks strongly responded to
DISH's action by filing a countersuit claiming that the company has
breached the copyright law by customizing TV shows for their own
commercial interest. These broadcasters also believe that if such
practices are encouraged then they will suffer significantly in
terms of losing advertisement revenue.
However, DISH Network believes that they have not infringed any
copyright law as the new service is similar to the DVR service that
provides flexible viewing of TV shows at their own preferred time.
Moreover, skipping of advertisement is possible only during
recorded programs and not at the time of live broadcast of the
show, hence not violating any contract agreement with the
broadcasters.
Nowadays it has been noticed that the advent of new innovative
devices, which offers flexibility to viewers to watch their
favorite TV shows anytime anywhere, has given way to a number of
legal tussles between the broadcasters and cable and satellite
distributors. Recently,
Time Warner Cable Inc
. (
TWC
) settled the long pending legal tussle with
Viacom Inc.
(
VIAB
) regarding the streaming of cable TV shows on iPad.
We believe that such incidents will keep coming up until
government redefines or brings more clarity to the contract terms
with the media and broadcasting networks.
Currently, DISH Networkhas a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a
short-term Hold rating on the stock.
CBS CORP (CBS): Free Stock Analysis Report
COMCAST CORP A (CMCSA): Free Stock Analysis
Report
DISNEY WALT (DIS): Free Stock Analysis Report
DISH NETWORK CP (DISH): Free Stock Analysis
Report
NEWS CORP INC-A (NWSA): Free Stock Analysis
Report
TIME WARNER CAB (TWC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
VIACOM INC-B (VIAB): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment
Research