(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, November 18, 2012 ) Santa Fe Springs,CA -- Leslie Moonves, CBS Chief Executive, has been open about his disdain for the AutoHop, which is a new feature brought on by satellite broadcaster Dish Network that allows viewers to skip ads by the simple press of a button.
"I can't produce premium shows like ‘CSI’ without advertising," Moonves said. He stated the same thing as he talked to the Wall Street analyst Wednesday, “The fact of the matter is, we produce content and need to get paid for it.”
Despite its general dislike for the system, it appears the only thing Moonves needed was money to change his tune. S&P Capital analyst Tuna Amobi asked if there was any scenario, in which Moonves may change his tune. “… Any scenarios where you might consider trading off advertising revenue if you felt that you could adequately compensated by pay TV affiliate operators that are offering ad skipping functionalities?”
Moonves response was simple: "I suppose if Dish wanted to pay us $5 a sub, we might consider letting them do that."
While the remark was likely tongue-in-cheek, the statement points to an obvious indicator of what the real concern is about.
Dish’s AutoHop only works on the major broadcast networks, even though cable has more commercials per hour. Dish stated that AutoHop only works on the broadcast shows due to theirs being the most popular programs. Yet, many audiences for cable shows are just as large as those found on many big broadcast shows.
The situation boils down to a consideration of leverage. Broadcasters are seeking more payment for pay-TV distributors like Dish. The new skipping mechanism gives Dish the ability to apply its own leverage to lower retransmission consent fees.
There is now likely to be negotiations over the AutoHop system that will result in the law needing to weigh in on the issue. CBS, NBC, and Fox have all sued dish, claiming the system violates copyright infringement. Fox has requested a preliminary injunction to halt Dish offering AutoHop, but that movement was denied.
The Senior Vice President of programming, Dave Shull, stated that broadcasters like Moonves “"would do well to tune into the consumer. Give the customer choice and control, give the customer a better experience and you will win every single time."
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