Fox and NBCUniversal have both separately sued Dish Network in a Los Angeles federal court over its new service that lets consumers skip TV ads. Dish's AutoHop service, which debuted earlier this month, has “irked” entertainment executives, according to the Associated Press.

Fox attacked Dish in fairly harsh terms in a statement today.

"We were given no choice but to file suit against one of our largest distributors, Dish Network, because of their surprising move to market a product with the clear goal of violating copyrights and destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television ecosystem," the statement read. “Their wrongheaded decision requires us to take swift action in order to aggressively defend the future of free, over-the-air television."

Meanwhile, Dish had previously filed its own suit in a New York federal court, asking a judge to provide a declaratory judgement, and find that the new technology does not violate copyright law.

“Consumers should be able to fairly choose for themselves what they do and do not want to watch,” David Shull, a company senior vice president, said in a statement. “Viewers have been skipping commercials since the advent of the remote control; we are giving them a feature they want and that gives them more control.”

Fox and NBCUniversal argue that the new service “makes an unauthorized copy,” and that the company’s Sling Adapter “redistributes and streams Fox's programming over the Internet in violation of copyright law and Dish's agreements with Fox. In doing so, it competes unfairly with licensed providers such as iTunes and Amazon."

Not surprisingly, citizens activist groups have already spoken out against the lawsuits.

“In filing this suit, Fox and the others are challenging long-held consumer rights and going against long-standing consumer practices,” wrote Gigi B. Sohn, president and CEO of Public Knowledge.

“Consumers have the right to control their TV watching, using whatever technology is available to them. This is as true now as it was in 1955, when advertisements for the Flash-Matic, one of the first remote control devices, promised, ‘You can even shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen.’”

“In filing this suit, the broadcasters are demonstrating their contempt for the millions of consumers who watch their shows and who buy the products they advertised on their networks. They should withdraw their legal actions immediately.”