Report: Dish Tweaks Hopper Ad-Skipping Feature Amid Lawsuit

Satellite operator is said to modify AutoHop to allow more user controls

By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/26/2012 10:09:21 AM

Dish Network, which is facing lawsuits from CBS, Fox and NBC over the automatic ad-skipping capabilities built into its Hopper multiroom DVR, has upgraded the feature to give users more control, according to a published report.

The software update, released in last week, may be designed to bolster its legal defense against the broadcasters by adding new user-controlled recording and deletion functions, Variety reported.

According to the report, the default option for AutoHop now is to not skip ads, so a viewer must actively select to zap the commercials. In addition, Dish's Hopper customers can now select which networks they record with PrimeTime Anytime -- whereas the lineups of all four major networks were automatically recorded -- and can delete recordings at any time (whereas they were previously retained on the DVR for eight days).

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