THE Dish Network and three television networks filed opposing lawsuits on Thursday over Auto Hop, a feature that allows Dish subscribers to automatically skip all the advertising during most prime-time shows. The owners of the CBS, Fox and NBC networks accused Dish of copyright infringement in connection with the feature, which had been technically feasible for more than a decade but had not been offered to consumers by a major distributor until now. The owner of the NBC network, NBCUniversal, said in a statement that the feature was “unlawful.” “Dish simply does not have the authority to tamper with the ads from broadcast replays on a wholesale basis for its own economic and commercial advantage,” the company said. Around the same time the networks were ... Continue reading →
Image Credit: Michael Desmond/NBC Jason Isaacs admits he finds it “strangely ironic and amusing” to be promoting tonight’s season finale of NBC’s Awake (10 p.m. ET), given that the show has been canceled. But receiving so many calls after the first hour of the two-part finale aired last week — and ended with his Det. Michael Britten shot in the reality in which his wife survived the fatal car accident, and placed in a police holding cell in the reality in which his son lived — recharged him. “I think we burned briefly but brightly,” he tells EW. “The fact that we’re not coming back for a second season doesn’t in any way diminish what we managed to do in one season. Some really smart ... Continue reading →
The TLC cable channel is teaming up with Doodle.ly, which enables doodlers to share drawings socially, for a promotion for the new season of “Cake Boss.”There are social networks, social videos and, even, in the case of apps like Draw Something, social drawing. And just as those first two tools have been used in marketing, social drawing is being enlisted in the promotion of the new season of “Cake Boss” on TLC.On Monday, the show begins its fifth season and will kick things off with a contest that uses the social-drawing app known as Doodle.ly, which was introduced in February and created by two executives of Night Agency in New York.The executives, Evan Vogel and Darren Paul, call the free app a “social sketchpad”; it ... Continue reading →
Brandishing lawsuits like swords, the Dish Network and at least one television network filed dueling lawsuits on Thursday over Auto Hop, a feature that allows Dish subscribers to automatically skip all the advertising during prime time shows.Dish’s suit against the four major networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC — asks for a ruling that Auto Hop “does not infringe any copyrights that could be claimed by the major networks, and that Dish, while providing the Auto Hop feature, remains in compliance with its agreements with the networks.”The Fox network, which was the first to announce a suit on Thursday, said it was seeking damages for copyright infringement and for breach of contract. The networks all have lucrative contracts with Dish that allow the distributor ... Continue reading →
A man in custody in Manhattan has confessed to strangling Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy who vanished in SoHo on his way to school in 1979, wrapping his body in a bag and putting it in a box, a law enforcement official said on Thursday. The confession comes a month after investigators spent five days excavating a SoHo basement near where Etan disappeared in what turned out to be a fruitless search for his remains. The news of the confession is the latest chapter in a wrenching story that has tormented the city since Etan's disappearance 33 years ago in a far grittier neighborhood than today's SoHo, with its tourist-clogged streets filled with upscale boutiques and trendy restaurants. The man, Pedro Hernandez, told investigators that ... Continue reading →
