Dish Wednesday was celebrating New York District Judge Laura Swain's decision not to bar the ad-skipping features on its DVR, as ABC had requested.
"This decision is yet another 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," said Dish executive VP and general counsel R. Stanton Dodge. "This is the third federal court decision that has sided with DISH on consumers' right to enjoy television as they want, when they want, including the right to skip commercials, if they so choose."
Swain's decision follows a federal appeals court's decision not to block the AutoHop feature. In doing so it was upholding a district court's denial of an injunction sought by Fox.
Dish's AutoHop feature and PrimeTime Anywhere were the features at issue. They allow for recording of prime time broadcast network programming and commercial-fee playback in some instances.
Broadcasters have argued that one-touch ad skipping threatens the economic model that supports the programming and that the result could wind up being prime time nowhere.
