Fox Broadcasting pushed its TV Anywhere pay wall into place Monday, requiring viewers to have an authenticated subscription to a participating cable or satellite provider if they want to watch its programs within eight days after they air.
It apparently wasn’t dissuaded by the fact that Dish Network is the only pay-TV company that signed up to participate. Dish has about 14 million subscribers, approximately 16 percent of the 105 million pay-TV subscribers in the U.S.
Fans accustomed to watching post-broadcast Fox programs on the network’s own site or on Hulu are no longer able to do so. They must either subscribe to Hulu Plus or to Dish, or they have to wait eight days before shows appear. Or, in this increasingly tech-savvy age, illegally download them in order to put themselves in control of where and when to watch their favorite shows.
For those who do have a Dish subscription, Fox outlines what it describes as the “easy” necessary steps. First click on the episode you want to watch, then click on the Dish Network logo, then sign in using the online user name and password you should already have registered for on the Dish Network site, and then watch Fox shows for 30 days until the session expires and you have to go through the process again.
Among the shows affected by the change are American Dad, Bones, Family Guy, Glee, Raising Hope and The Simpsons. Shows debuting in the upcoming fall season that will join the online roster include New Girl, Terra Nova, The Finder and Allen Gregory.
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