Just curious about autohop vs skipping commercials

bha19

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Dec 31, 2008
54
6
usa
I have autohop enabled on my dish and know that the networks hate autohop. On the shows where autohop is not available I can still skip the commercials 30seconds at a time. It may take a few seconds more but is effective. My question is why then are the networks so up in arms against autohop when they should really be against anyway to skip commercials?
 
They are against skipping commercials! They're against you going to the loo during those commercials, too. Having the delay before Autohop is enabled allows them to pretend to their advertisers that somebody is actually watching the ads, despite the wide popularity of DVRs that allow you to skip manually. They also like to charge advertisers for potential eyeballs on their channels in bundled packages, and not actual eyeballs of people who tune in. It's a racket.
 
I have autohop enabled on my dish and know that the networks hate autohop. On the shows where autohop is not available I can still skip the commercials 30seconds at a time. It may take a few seconds more but is effective. My question is why then are the networks so up in arms against autohop when they should really be against anyway to skip commercials?

They were against letting people use DVR to skip commercials. They lost that case and it was deemed legal. Things like autohop and Tivo's version of automatic commercial skipping just make it even easier to do the same thing. Before these technologies came around some people wouldn't skip every commercial from every break. Even if they tried to they might still see bits and pieces of ads.

The networks won't be able to make it illegal but it can come up as a bargaining chip during contract negotiations. That is why you have seen changes to the way autohop works on some networks since it originally came out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheKrell
Not in her power. Charlie made it clear from the beginning that it was a negotiable item. Good run, I guess. I never used it.

Truth be told, I skip forward, and sometimes skip back to see the commercial.
 
Actually all but NBC/Universal have a problem with AutoHop, but only because they have not reached an agreement on retrans, which they are currently seeking. The other media companies who own the O&O's no longer care about AutoHop because at the last retrans agreement Dish agreed to abide by C7 (C3 in the case of Disney). What this means is that Dish agreed not to enable AutoHop until 7 days (3 days in the case of Disney) after the air date because it is only in that period that a commerical counts as viewed and, thus, advertisers PAY the big 4 for the ads. In other words, after the C7 or C3, the commercial has ZERO value to the broadcaster. It is of no value to the big 4 to kill AutoHop if they aren't going to get any money for any ads after 3 or 7 days of airdate. All they care about is the period for which they get credit and their money from advertisers.

NBC/Universal is currently in negotiations with Dish, and that is the only reason they are the last holdouts: their retrans agreement was the last to expire. However, we can expect whatever deal they strike will be very similar to what the other big 3 agreed: observance of at least a C3 but probably C7; a new NBC/U channel or two on Dish or perhaps moving an NBC/U channel from the 250's to a better channel position/neigborhood, like we saw with a Fox owned channel (FXX, I think it was, putting FS1 and FS2 together on the channels and guide); NBC/U channels and content on SlingTV.

None of this is earth shattering and the big 4 only care about auto commerical skipping if there is a chance of losing money. But after the C3 or C7, for all we know, the big 4 may secretly LOVE AutoHop at their place of residence--or office :).
 
They are against skipping commercials! They're against you going to the loo during those commercials, too. Having the delay before Autohop is enabled allows them to pretend to their advertisers that somebody is actually watching the ads, despite the wide popularity of DVRs that allow you to skip manually. They also like to charge advertisers for potential eyeballs on their channels in bundled packages, and not actual eyeballs of people who tune in. It's a racket.
I remember it going back to the Betamax in the '70s. The networks screamed about it then.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheKrell
I record all programming that I watch.I purposely wait until auto hop is available on the networks, so that cannot count me as a watcher. I am in no hurry to watch commercials that are rerun thousands of times, sometimes even during the same program.
 
I record all programming that I watch.I purposely wait until auto hop is available on the networks, so that cannot count me as a watcher. I am in no hurry to watch commercials that are rerun thousands of times, sometimes even during the same program.
Same here. I'm at least 3-8 episodes behind in all my shows. Some I even record the whole season & starting of the next season before I start watching. I weeks delay on auto hop wouldn't affect me at all.
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)