NBCUniversal and Dish Network last week settled a dispute that centered on Dish’s AutoHop and PrimeTime Anytime features, which enabled users to skip ads in DVR recorded programming.  

“NBCUniversal and DISH Network L.L.C. have reached an agreement resulting in the dismissal of all pending litigation between the two companies, including disputes over the AutoHop and PrimeTime Anytime features,” NBCU said in a statement.

Per the settlement, Dish’s AutoHop ad-skipping functionality will not be available for owned-and-operated NBC stations until seven days after a program first airs.

NBCU and Dish have also reached a carriage deal, but further details on it are not currently available. In March, Dish Network said it had filed a lawsuit against NBCU, alleging breach of contract, while also seeking arbitration that, it said, would prevent NBC from pulling its signal while negotiations continued. The carriage deal ensures that it won’t come to that.

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Before the latest settlement, NBCU was the sole litigant in the original suit, which argued that AutoHop violated copyrights and carriage deals with Dish.. In February 2016, Dish and 21st Century Fox settled their lawsuit over the ad-skipping feature, an agreement that soon followed a new carriage deal between Fox and Dish announced in January 2015. Like the NBCU-Dish settlement, the one between Dish and 21st Century Fox included a provision that disables the AutoHop feature for seven days after a program originally airs. Dish earlier agreed to disable the AutoHop feature after renewing its carriage deal with The Walt Disney Co (which was not part of the 2012 suit) in March 2014 and with CBS in December 2014.

Dish introduced AutoHop at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, teeing up a feature for the Hopper DVR that skips commercials that are recorded by PrimeTime Anytime, a component that records all of the prime time programming of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. Under the original set-up, AutoHop would be applied to those shows the day after they were originally recorded. 

Dish Network and 21st Century Fox have settled their lawsuit over the satellite giant’s AutoHop ad-skipping feature, agreeing to disable the feature for seven days after a program originally airs.

Fox sued Dish over the AutoHop feature in 2012. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but in a statement Dish said an agreement had been reached.

“Fox Networks Group and Dish Network L.L.C. have reached an agreement resulting in the dismissal of all pending litigation between the two companies, including disputes over Slingbox technology and the AutoHop, PrimeTime Anytime and Transfers features,” Dish said in the statement. “As part of the settlement, Dish’s AutoHop commercial-skipping functionality will not be available for owned and affiliated Fox stations until seven days after a program first airs.”

 The satellite giant declined to comment if the settlement means other networks will get the same treatment.  

The AutoHop has been a key component of past carriage negotiations for Dish. It has agreed to disable the ad-skipping feature after renewing carriage deals with The Walt Disney Co. (which was not part of the 2012 suit) in March 2014 and with CBS in December 2014. Fox renewed its carriage agreement with Dish in January 2015 – and said at the time that the renewal would probably iron out its issue with the Auto Hop. But it still took more than a year to reach a settlement.

With CBS and Fox all reaching deal, that leaves Comcast’s NBC Universal unit as the sole litigant in the original suit without a settlement. NBC Universal declined comment.

Dish Network said a U.S. District Court has said technology that the broadcast networks objected to is legal under copyright law or the Supreme Court’s recent Aereo ruling.

The ruling, released Tuesday afternoon, covers its PrimeTime Anywhere and AutoHop features, which record programming and plays it back without commercials. The court also ruled that Dish’s Slingbox technology, which moves programming from the set-top box to other devices, and its Transfers feature, which duplicates some recordings allowing users to play them back on a mobile phone or tablet without an Internet connection, did not violate copyright laws.

“This decision is the sixth in a string of victories in federal courts on both coasts for the American consumer related to our Hopper Whole-Home DVR platform. We are proud to have stood by their side in this important fight over fundamental rights of consumer choice and control,” said R. Stanton Dodge, Dish executive VP and general counsel.

“Dish is pleased that the Court has again sided with consumers by issuing a summary judgment decision upholding their rights under U.S. copyright law to use Slingbox technology and the AutoHop, PrimeTime Anytime and Transfers features of the Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR,” Dodge said. “Consumers are the winners today, as the Court sided with them on the key copyright issues in this case. This decision has far reaching significance, because it is the first to apply the Supreme Court's opinion in Aereo to other technology. We will continue to vigorously defend consumers’ rights to choice and control over their viewing experience.”

Read the full story at B&C.