CBS Seeks to Unwind Retrans Agreement With Dish Network

[dfergie]

In legal papers filed on Tuesday, the network says that Dish concealed facts about the Autohop during 2011 negotiations.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/cbs-seeks-unwind-retrans-agreement-414605

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I seem to recall that when AutoHop was introduced DISH was saying that they patented the technology years ago. If this is true then CBS really does not have a leg to stand on here as it was all a matter of public record with the USPTO.

But in the legal game you got to throw everything you can think of to the wall and hope something sticks.

 

[KE4EST]

But in the legal game you got to throw everything you can think of to the wall and hope something sticks.

Ain't that the truth.

 

[Hall]

The patent filing doesn't say anything about skipping commercials though. It talks about using closed caption cues to control playback and is vague as to what that means (on purpose, no doubt).

 

[Mochuf]

If Dish loses the re-trans rights for the CBS O&O stations, I would have to buy another tuner for my HTPC because the local CBS station is an O&O. Just add to the queue to the shows I record from Ion, CW and PBS, networks Dish doesn't have available in hd for this area.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

The patent filing doesn't say anything about skipping commercials though. It talks about using closed caption cues to control playback and is vague as to what that means (on purpose, no doubt).

Actually, it does....it just uses a fancy marketing term....

http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/284295-AutoHop-secrets-revealed?

 

[Tampa8]

CBS; Your Honor, Dish did not disclose what the technology actually was capable of, it was at best vague.

Judge; Did you ask about it before signing the agreement?

The end.

 

[lparsons21]

Since this lawsuit is just the skipping tech from the old VCR days in a new wrapper, you'd think it would have gotten tossed on day one. And if autohop was a global persistent function and not something you have to select for each program you watch every time you want to watch it, which would be the single thing that would make it different, you'd again think it should have gotten tossed.

But alas, the law and common sense have very little in common these days!

 

[jerryez]

That still leave me with the capability of recording three OTA channels at the same time. Two on my 722k and one on my 211K.

 

[HDRoberts]

CBS; Your Honor, Dish did not disclose what the technology actually was capable of, it was at best vague.

Judge; Did you ask about it before signing the agreement?

The end.

Gotta agree. There is a HUGE difference between not disclosing something, and hiding it. It's different if CBS inquired about new features in general, and they they mentioned PTAT but ignored Autohop.

 

[rajmarie]

I am not sure if CBS also disclosed all the future shows it plan to create & broadcast to Dish either. What if Dish or any other provider turns around & wants to renegociate a contract...because the show are not upto the mark...& hence the MSO might want a discount since that network nolonger demands the premium price which they agreed before.

 

[dare2be]

I am not sure if CBS also disclosed all the future shows it plan to create & broadcast to Dish either. What if Dish or any other provider turns around & wants to renegociate a contract...because the show are not upto the mark...& hence the MSO might want a discount since that network nolonger demands the premium price which they agreed before.

*COUGH*VOOM*COUGH*

...and we all know how that went. Good point.

 

[Hall]

I am not sure if CBS also disclosed all the future shows it plan to create & broadcast to Dish either. What if Dish or any other provider turns around & wants to renegociate a contract...because the show are not upto the mark...& hence the MSO might want a discount since that network nolonger demands the premium price which they agreed before.

Hah ! You can be assured, the programming that a network provides to the providers, i.e. Dish, Time Warner, Comcast, is on an as-is basis. Who determines if a show is "not up to the mark" ?

 

[Smwoodward]

What I don't think CBS realizes is who their real competition is. Ok, so lets say the deal goes south, and CBS pulls their programming. Well #1 I can still get OTA CBS, but to me that's a pain in the a*# and don't have the money to mount a roof antenna, so guess where I will go to watch the shows on CBS? Torrents, and they will be commercial free. I don't condone this as it is illegal, but if people can't watch them else where....

Here the other thing about the AutoHop feature. Unless there is a really good reason why I can't watch the new prime time show that day, normally I watch the shows that day, either live, or buffered by 15-30 minutes, so I am already skipping over or watching the commercials anyway. The only time I really use the autohop feature is if I want to save the show to watch again, so i've already seen the commercials. Even if AutoHop wasn't there, I would still skip over the commercials or walk out of the room during them.

Dish and the Hopper isn't putting these companies out of business, their old way of doing business is putting themselves out of business. Look at the music industry, they tried to have a hold on their content in the digital era, and started to loose because they made it so that content wasn't easy to get and ubiquitous on all platforms, so people started torrenting music like crazy because they wanted the same song to be able to play on a zune and and ipod, not have to buy two copies. Now you buy it and it's MP3 and you can do what you want with it. Same thing is happening to the TV and movie industry, and they think the Hopper is what's killing it.

 

[AKGolf]

What I don't think CBS realizes is who their real competition is. Ok, so lets say the deal goes south, and CBS pulls their programming. Well #1 I can still get OTA CBS, but to me that's a pain in the a*# and don't have the money to mount a roof antenna, so guess where I will go to watch the shows on CBS? Torrents, and they will be commercial free. I don't condone this as it is illegal, but if people can't watch them else where....

Here the other thing about the AutoHop feature. Unless there is a really good reason why I can't watch the new prime time show that day, normally I watch the shows that day, either live, or buffered by 15-30 minutes, so I am already skipping over or watching the commercials anyway. The only time I really use the autohop feature is if I want to save the show to watch again, so i've already seen the commercials. Even if AutoHop wasn't there, I would still skip over the commercials or walk out of the room during them.

Dish and the Hopper isn't putting these companies out of business, their old way of doing business is putting themselves out of business. Look at the music industry, they tried to have a hold on their content in the digital era, and started to loose because they made it so that content wasn't easy to get and ubiquitous on all platforms, so people started torrenting music like crazy because they wanted the same song to be able to play on a zune and and ipod, not have to buy two copies. Now you buy it and it's MP3 and you can do what you want with it. Same thing is happening to the TV and movie industry, and they think the Hopper is what's killing it.

Yep. No CW HD here so torrents it is for those shows.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Even if Dish pulls this off and wins, CBS and the networks will eventually win when it comes time to re-negotiate their retransmission agreements

 

[rajmarie]

What I fail to understand is why torrents. If CBS is not on tv then don't watch it. There are other channels & shows to watch.

Imagine a day when these networks & movie studios can't can't blame their failures on torrents/piracy.

 

[dishfan82]

Although I watch CBS for some football games and the Big Bang theory there's nothing else I watch on that channel. You don't see abc, NBC or fox going after dish over the Autohop only CBS . What they fail to understand is the auto hop doesn't work until 1 am so if people are watching the broadcast as it airs then they will have to see the commercials unless they walk out of the room. I don't even watch them anyways because usually when they come on I get up to get a drink or use the bathroom. So even if dish couldn't use that feature on the hopper, what is CBS going to go after people who get up and do something during the commercials?

 

[GaryPen]

Les Moonves just has a bug up his ass about this. That's all. There is no logic or rational examination of data. He hates auto-hop, and wants to see Dish punished for it. Period.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Even if Dish pulls this off and wins, CBS and the networks will eventually win when it comes time to re-negotiate their retransmission agreements

each market, one at a time?? How many CBS affiliates are O&O??