Broadcasters vs. Dish Auto Hop To Be Heard in to L.A.

LOS ANGELES: The lawsuit brought by broadcasters against Dish Network over a new commercial-skipping set-top box will be heard in Los Angeles, published reports indicate. Fox, NBCUniversal and CBS sued Dish over the “Auto Hop” feature in its latest set-top box. Auto Hop skips ads only in Dish’s Primetime Anywhere service, which enables automatic recording of Big Four network programming.

The broadcast networks sued in Los Angeles, claiming copyright infringement. Dish countersued in New York. U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Manhattan ruled that the suits would be heard in Los Angeles, according to Bloomberg. The judge noted that Dish filed less than 24 hours after news leaked that the networks planned to sue. Swain said Dish’s preemptive strike was “improperly participatory.”