DISH AND DISNEY MAKE WIDE-RANGING DEAL

DISH subscribers who view their recorded programs via the company’s Hopper DVR won’t be able to skip commercials if they’re watching ABC programs on them anymore. At least not if they’re watching them within three days after they’re broadcast. DISH and the Walt Disney Co., the corporate parent of ABC, reached an agreement on Monday in which DISH would disable its autohop feature on ABC shows within the Live+3 ratings window in return for Disney allowing DISH to stream content to its subscribers’ smartphones and tablets from Disney’s ABC-owned TV stations, the ABC Family network, Disney Channel and ESPN, but users will not be able to skip commercials on their mobile devices. The companies also agreed to drop the lawsuits they had filed against each other related to the Hopper technology.