Ever since the invention of the VCR, the commercial industry has been threatened. Since the 60s, If you knew you were going to miss your favorite television program, you would set your VCR, come home and watch the program while, of course, fast-forwarding through the commercials. The same problem still exists now but on a more high-tech scale.

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Earlier this year, three of the top broadcast television stations, Fox, NBC and CBS filed a lawsuit against Dish Network claiming that their "AutoHop" (DVR commercial skipping technology) is illegal and advertisers fear that this will cut into their $20 Billion per year industry (Savitz, Eric. "News Corp. Sues Dish Over Hopper Ad-Skipping Service." (Savitz, 2012)

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“Viewers have been skipping commercials since the advent of the remote control," said David Shull, Dish Senior VP of programming for Dish Network, in a statement. “We are giving them a feature they want and that gives them more control." (Hatamoto, 2012)

 

If this issue is not ruled on in a timely fashion, Dish and other services that provide channel skipping technology could risk losing the following channels:

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CBS (VIACOM): BET, CBS, CMT, Comedy Central, LOGO, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, TV Land, VH1 and affiliated channels

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NBC (Universal): NBC, E!, Syfy, USA Network, Comcast Sports, Bravo, Oxygen, Style, Telemundo, CNBC, MSNBC and affiliated channels

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Fox (News Corp): Fox, FX Network, Fox Sports, Fuel TV and affiliated channels.



With viewership of commercials on the decline, advertisers must now find a way to deliver their message. Advertisers have turned to social media, product placement and celebrities to promote their products to the masses.