14 DAY TRIAL // This has to be the largest-scale legal battle against a DVR provider that's ever been fought. As if it weren't enough that ABC Network was trying to kill the Hopper DVR from Dish, Fox has been trying to shut down some of the TV broadcast provider's offers as well. It has been rebuffed though.
There are two main reasons why Fox is trying to shut down some of Dish's activities, or at least force Dish to drop a few of its capabilities. That's the official stance at any rate.
Recently, after the confrontation supervised by the US District Court for the Central District of California, Fox's request for an early injunction against the Hopper digital video recorder technology was denied.
One of the problems that Fox has with the DVR is the "Dish Anywhere" place shifting technology. In a nutshell, if a Dish customer has a Dish TV signal in their home, they can use any web-connected PC, mobile phone or tablet to view that signal, no matter where they are.
The other issue Fox found was the Hopper Transfers feature, which lets Dish customers move or duplicate certain Hopper DVR recordings to an iPad. Afterwards, no net connection is needed for viewing.
Essentially, Fox feels that the two features overstep the bounds of the agreements signed between it and Dish, in addition to the broadcasted media's copyrights.
"We disagree that the harms caused by Dish’s infringing services are completely compensable by damages, and as a result we are looking at all options. We will file a response in due course," Fox stated after the ruling was passed.
Dish has proven to be quite forward-thinking and blithe about most of the conventions that have the potential to pop the enthusiasm that users have for watching TV.
In fact, that lawsuit by ABC that we have mentioned earlier (Dish won a similar victory there just days ago) is an even bigger example of positive publicity via legal action. Long story short, the Dish Hopper DVR (which has the capabilities Fox is against) allows customers to skip commercials (in recorded primetime TV anyway).