Fox Refuses Ads for Service to, Well, Kill Ads

How awesome would it be if your DVR automatically skipped commercials on shows recorded off the major networks? Probably not very awesome if you were one of those same networks, which is why they're outraged over the Dish Network's upcoming "Hopper," which, Dish announced last week, would be able to do just that with its "Auto Hop" feature. Fox released a statement today saying it would no longer accept ads for Hopper, and other networks have publicly expressed displeasure as well.

"How does Charlie Ergen expect me to produce CSI without ads?" CBS chief Les Moonves groused yesterday, according to the New York Times. Earlier this week, NBC boss Ted Harbert called it an insult to the industry. "Just because technology gives you the ability to do something, does that mean you should?" he asked. If those networks follow Fox's lead, it could be a problem for Dish, which was planning to triple its normal marketing spending to promote Hopper, the Wall Street Journal reports. (More Dish Network stories.)