Commercial Skipping Wins Another Round

Today, the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals unanimously denied Fox Broadcasting Company's petitions to re-open the issue of preventing DISH subscribers from using the PrimeTime Anytime and AutoHop features available on the company's Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR. Back in July 2013 Fox attempted to block DISH from allowing its customers to easily record primetime shows on up to each of the four broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox). While recording is pretty vanilla, DISH lets you record ALL of what's playing on network television and save the content for up to eight days. If DISH stopped there I don't think there would be any contention. But the company allows its customers to "AutoHop" through shows, playing back the PrimeTime Anytime recordings without commercials. The only caveat is they only get the option to do this commercial skipping one day after the shows originally aired. 

Still, it's really ticking off the networks.

Here's what DISH Executive VP and General Counsel, R. Stanton Dodge had to say:

“With this decision, the Court continues to reject Fox’s efforts to deny our customers’ access to PrimeTime Anytime and AutoHop -- key features of the Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR. This is a victory for American consumers, and we are proud to have stood by their side in this important fight over the fundamental rights of consumer choice and control.”

The bottom line is that commercial-skipping is going to redefine the way advertisers interact with consumers. Look for additional use of product-placement and perhaps even unique placements of commercials mid-content that defies conventional commercial-style programming. We're not really sure what's going to happen, but the future is definitely not going to bear standard commercial programming given the swing of recent rulings. 

DISH has been in the news for other reasons of late, including their deal with Southwest Airlines to provide free TV service on select flights. The program was announced back in July 2013 when DISH and Southwest gave away some free iPad 2 tablets to inaugurate the new partnership. Once onboard a Wi-Fi-equipped plane, Southwest passengers can simply connect to the onboard Wi-Fi network and launch the company's Entertainment Portal. From there you can access live TV and on-demand programs free of charge.

Because the FAA recently changed its rules on when and how you can use personal electronic devices on planes, the use of streaming media over WiFi is going gangbusters. DISH is smart in that they are essentially advertising their services to passengers on Southwest flights when they access their channels over WiFi. I was on a cross-country flight this week and it was interesting to see how the plane we were on actually lacked any entertainment system—and this was a flight from Tampa to Vegas. That meant that DISH literally filled in for the entertainment for the flight, forcing passengers to use their own multimedia devices in lieu of aircraft-mounted displays. Compared to being forced to choose between one or two movies shown on an uncalibrated off-color display, I think it was an improvement.