New legislation to ban commercial skipping

[mostlyfodder]

Originally Posted by ErsatzTom

Will it also be illegal to go to the bathroom during commercials? Do you have to wait for objectionable content to take a leak?

t

ErsatzTom, you raise a good point, which makes me ask...

If, under this new bill, one wants to engage in one's own potentially offensive (read: sexual) activity while watching TV with a significant other, should one then wait for a commercial?

-fodder

[nielm]

Originally Posted by Cayars

Not as long as we can output the signal via S-Videa (analog) and then capture it via a PVR board.

Only if the analogue outputs do not have macrovision protection (and all makers of 'video filters/signal enhancers' are law-suited out of business)

[ukmgranger]

I have to be the devils advocate here!

I am a post-production sound engineer/designer and most of my work comes from TV/Radio commercials. I do not want to see my financial situation dry up!

I think commercial bashing is an easy way for people to blame the current social climate on something. I can’t say that I am not affected by commercials (we ALL are in some way) but I think I have the strength of character to not get heated about these people trying to sell us stuff through the little glass window in the lounge.


In my opinion, there are many, many awful commercials out there (I have made a lot of them myself) but there are also some fantastically well made commercials that have had all the love and attention put into them that a short film would get. Ok, OK I know that they are trying to sell, sell, sell, but hey, what the hell, I want to drool over the latest 'Audi' sports car and ‘designer’ sofa.

I too skip through commercials, but that’s life – I’m not going to get commercials taken off the air, so I am not going to work myself into a frenzy about them and give myself a heart attack.


And besides – did anyone see the three minute ‘H&M’ add the other night about there new ……………………



Just my 2p

[nielm]

Originally Posted by ukmgranger

I think commercial bashing is an easy way for people to blame the current social climate on something. I can’t say that I am not affected by commercials (we ALL are in some way) but I think I have the strength of character to not get heated about these people trying to sell us stuff through the little glass window in the lounge.

I agree that commercials are necessary to pay for the 'free' content that we get on the TV...

But I feel that the problem with commercials is more pronounced in the US than in Europe, possibly because US channels include a lot more commercial breaks in programmes... (an episode of 24 last for 50 minutes here in Belgium, because there are only 2 short commercial breaks, but I can see the 4 or 5 commercial slots that exist in the program where the clock skips a few minutes!... A movie normally only contains 2 or 3 breaks on some channels, and others never intrrupt movies with commercials)
As a result, I don't bother with auto commercial detection/skip...

The more commercials there are, the more annoyance at having to sit through them (or find the RC to skip them), and more of a desire to skip them automatically...

The skipping then causes the advertisers to get annoyed, because they realise that they are wasting their money, and hence the lobbying to make skipping a commercial illegal...

So the advertising/TV networks only have themselves to blame by creating a 'product' (show+adverts) that antagonises their customers!

(having said all that, I recall that when I did live in the UK, Sky One was putting an annoying large number of commercials into popular shows!)

[Freegoo]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

As this directly affects my efforts, I have done some research and I can't find any verbage in the bill itself that would prevent any skipping of commercials. As a matter of fact the dissenting brief on the bill says the following:
Take it for what it's worth.

Jere

Not being a lawyer I can't really comment on how much teeth the law would even have in preventing PVR companies from allowing users to skip commercials. But I suspect their real interest in getting the bill passed is it allows them to interpret the law as they want and file a new round of lawsuits against TiVo, ReplayTV, and a slew of other PVR companies not in the hope of winning the lawsuit, but in causing the companies additional financial hardship defending themselves in court. Which seems to be a typical tactic of bigger business trying to push a smaller one around (Microsoft, IBM, Nintendo, etc. all do it). TiVo is already struggling to maintain their lead in the PVR market and avoid being commoditized(actually I think Dish Network is #1, but that's just a glorified Digital VCR in my opinion), and ReplayTV has been a financial mess from day one. Add a new round of costly lawsuits across the board, and the results could be devestating.

[Freegoo]

We got a Hi-def set a couple months back, and couldn't wait to see the first NFL game. While watching the game on Hi definition was awesome, we had to watch it live and actually sit through the commercials we normally fly by. And I agree, it's not just that the commercials are bad (or REALLY bad even - and they are) it was the frequency of them, and how often the same commercial gets repeated. It was just painful, perhaps even more so since we have the luxury of skipping them the last 3-4 years.

Networks could perhaps make up for the loss of revenue by offering a pay channel that has the same shows without any commercial breaks. I'd pay for that. Or work on more subtle advertising such as product placements, contests, etc.. I don't know, I guess they will have to adapt to the market. In the meantime I'll keep my fast forward button handy.

Originally Posted by nielm

I agree that commercials are necessary to pay for the 'free' content that we get on the TV...

But I feel that the problem with commercials is more pronounced in the US than in Europe, possibly because US channels include a lot more commercial breaks in programmes... (an episode of 24 last for 50 minutes here in Belgium, because there are only 2 short commercial breaks, but I can see the 4 or 5 commercial slots that exist in the program where the clock skips a few minutes!... A movie normally only contains 2 or 3 breaks on some channels, and others never intrrupt movies with commercials)
As a result, I don't bother with auto commercial detection/skip...

[remmy925]

It seems we need more tech savy people in government. It seems to be a regular pattern these days to remove rights from the customers. I am not supposed to rip my own dvds to divix for my own enjoyment...I am not allowed to share my favorite tv show with a friend...I am not allowed to encode my music I paid for off of iTunes into MP3 format so I can put it on CD and play it in my car stereo. Whats next...forcing people to not be able to RW, FF, or skip chapters in DVDs or tracks on albums we dont want to watch because it isnt how the DVD or album was intended to be watched or listened to?

[jptaz]

Originally Posted by Freegoo

We got a Hi-def set a couple months back, and couldn't wait to see the first NFL game. While watching the game on Hi definition was awesome, we had to watch it live and actually sit through the commercials we normally fly by. And I agree, it's not just that the commercials are bad (or REALLY bad even - and they are) it was the frequency of them, and how often the same commercial gets repeated. It was just painful, perhaps even more so since we have the luxury of skipping them the last 3-4 years.

Networks could perhaps make up for the loss of revenue by offering a pay channel that has the same shows without any commercial breaks. I'd pay for that. Or work on more subtle advertising such as product placements, contests, etc.. I don't know, I guess they will have to adapt to the market. In the meantime I'll keep my fast forward button handy.

I got my HDTV and hooked up my $30 attic mount antenna and I enjoyed a few shows in HD and some of the Olympics, but I will rarely if ever watch in HD because of the commercials. I wish sporting events in the USA followed the commercial model of Australia and Europe where they have banner ads on the bottom portion of the screen. I hate all the stopping in American sports on TV and at the events, becaue now even basket has commercial time outs.

As far as paying for commercial free TV, wasn't that why Cable TV was created in the first place? I was only child when it first came out in our area, but I thought that initially most of the cable only channels were free of commercials. I know original programming costs money, but come on we are already paying a huge chunk of change for Cable TV.

John

[mostlyfodder]

regarding commercials: i understand their necessity, but i'm paying over $80/month for cable (digital comcast) and i still have tons of commercials. i know, it's revenue and i thus get even more channels/programming, etc. but i still don't like em.

check this out; found on slashdot. tivo wants to play banner ads while its users press the FF button! can someone work on a sagetv plugin for that?

here's the link:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-e...home-headlines

the article says the ads will start this march. woohoo-

-fodder

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by mostlyfodder

tivo wants to play banner ads while its users press the FF button!

Just close your eyes and hum real loud while using FF...

- Andy

[sleonard]

Just close your eyes and hum real loud while using FF...

My GF and I used to sway to and fro while chanting "Makes me want to buy" in a cult-like monotone

[kny3twalker]

They do not bother me that much but I would rather not watch them if I have the choice,which I do
but what makes me hate most of them, is the fact that they jack up the volume so freakin' high
I cannot stand that

I mute while watching liveTV

[mightyt]

Hmm ... Wonder if TiVO is trying to do an end around??

http://www.redherring.com/Article.as...ds+up%E2%80%99

Anyway, to me commercials are a big waste of time and should be voluntary. I hate having my shows disrupted every 10 minutes. Create a "commercial" channel for those that want to be sold products 24/7. Hey if that didn’t work, Time/Life, Ronco, KaBoom and at least 500 variations of exercise equipment wouldn't be solve via infomercials at 2am no less. And HSN or QVC seem to be doing very well.

I'd even be willing switch to the commercial channel and watch 10 continuous minutes of commercials per day to NOT have commercials interrupt my TV watching pattern. Or we can just leave it the way it is and I will nap, got to the rest room, hit the fridge or find any other way to ignore them, including illegally FF.

Thinking out of the TV box is the only way!!

[ottoreck]

Looks like Tivo is getting a jump on this - http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...astadvertisers
they are going to put banner ads up as you ff through commercials.

What needs to happen, and this might be good or bad is removal of commercials and the use of product placement. Also, interactive tv comes into play were items in a scene are clickable and can be purchased on amazon.com.

So watch Friends and if I like what Joey is wearing, i can click on his shirt and go to Amazon and buy it. Same thing for the couch or glassware or kitchen cabinets or rug....

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by mostlyfodder

check this out; found on slashdot. tivo wants to play banner ads while its users press the FF button!

here's the link:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-e...home-headlines

Originally Posted by mightyt

Hmm ... Wonder if TiVO is trying to do an end around??

http://www.redherring.com/Article.as...ds+up%E2%80%99

Originally Posted by ottoreck

Looks like Tivo is getting a jump on this - http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...astadvertisers
they are going to put banner ads up as you ff through commercials.

OK, OK... we understand. Anyone else want to 'discover' this?

- Andy

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by Opus4

OK, OK... we understand. Anyone else want to 'discover' this?

- Andy

OUCH! Opus ... you just me !!

WARNING WARNING .... Look over your shoulder, we'll be watching you ....

<j/k>

T.

[Cayars]

Hey, I wonder if I could add something like this to my STV and sell advertising? How about a 5 second commercial specially prepared just for you that gets displayed everytime you FF/RW.

I like this idea. <-- Not

TIVO is such a dumb company. Good technology but DUMB business people. They're getting to greedy and are going to piss a lot of people off. Oh well, I guess this is good for the PVR software companies!

Jeff/Dan, you guys wouldn't happen to be selling any stock in Frey would you?

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by Cayars

Hey, I wonder if I could add something like this to my STV and sell advertising? How about a 5 second commercial specially prepared just for you that gets displayed everytime you FF/RW.

I like this idea. <-- Not

TIVO is such a dumb company. Good technology but DUMB business people. They're getting to greedy and are going to piss a lot of people off. Oh well, I guess this is good for the PVR software companies!

Jeff/Dan, you guys wouldn't happen to be selling any stock in Frey would you?

Hey ... how about all PVR companies buy ads on TiVo advertising no SkipAds ... This way when their customers get pissed they know where to go for relief !!!! That would be a kick in the pants, huh?

[Cayars]

What's funny about this is that TIVO would probably take the advertising.