Reuters: Regulatory News: Dish's Ergen says ad zapper protects children

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Dish's Ergen says ad zapper protects children Jun 26th 2012, 20:35 Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:35pm EDT * Dish being sued by broadcasters over ad skipping * Ergen says Dish could create many new jobs with wireless * Appearing at congressional hearing on Wednesday By Liana B. Baker June 26 (Reuters) - Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen says skipping TV commercials can shield children from advertising for fast food and alcohol, making a further argument in support of his company's technology that lets consumers zap ads. Ergen, in written testimony for a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, defended the ad skipping technology that has come under fire in lawsuits by broadcast networks. "This means allowing your kids to watch TV doesn't have to mean that they have no choice but to see commercials for junk food and alcohol," he said in the prepared remarks for the hearing on the future of video. CBS Corp, News Corp 's Fox, Comcast Corp's have sued the No. 2 satellite provider for selling the "autohop" feature for its new digital video recorder that enables subscribers to automatically skip ads in recorded programs. The major broadcasters argue that Dish violates copyrights and undermines their main source of revenue, which is advertising. In his testimony, Ergen, a billionaire who rarely speaks publicly, called the technology "legally accepted" and said it only improves on upon widely available products for skipping ads. Dish introduced the "AutoHop" in May and touted it as a product for consumers fed up with watching commercials. Viewers need to wait until 1 a.m. on the morning after a show airs before they can skip ads. In other portions of his testimony, Ergen also said that Dish is taking "significant risk" by investing billions in plans to build a wireless network. It invested $3 billion on wireless spectrum and assets in the last year and is awaiting approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to use the spectrum. "If we're successful, we'll fuel billions of dollars in investment and create tens of thousands of new jobs throughout the United States," he said. Dish is hoping the FCC will make a decision by the end of the summer, Ergen said. Other executives that will appear at Wednesday's hearing are Netflix's General Counsel David Hyman and David Barrett, chief executive of Hearst Television. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions