Fox No Longer Accepting Dish Network Ads Mentioning 'Hopper'

NEW YORK (DOW JONES)--News Corp.'s (NWS, NWSA) Fox Network became the latest broadcaster to take aim at Dish Network's new ad-skipping technology.

The broadcaster said Wednesday that it wouldn't air any Dish Network advertisements mentioning Dish's "Auto Hop" technology or its "Hopper" digital video recorder, which allows subscribers to completely skip commercials while watching shows on DVRs, rather than just manually fast-forward them. Dish unveiled the feature last week.

News Corp. owns this newswire and The Wall Street Journal.

Several television executives also have attacked the new Dish technology at this week's annual presentations to advertisers.

Earlier Wednesday, CBS Corp. (CBS) Chief Executive Les Moonves warned that broadcasters will "reach a tipping point" with Dish Network because of the hopper technology, which could result in canceling programming for Dish subscribers or renegotiating retransmission fee contracts.

"How does Charlie Ergen expect I produce CSI without advertisements?" Moonves asked in a conversation with reporters Wednesday, referring to Dish Network's Chairman and the popular CBS show.

-By William Launder, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3412; [e-mail]