And you seriously don't have a problem with this? I love TV (especially sports on TV) as much as the next guy but I'll quit watching all together before I'm forced to watch comercials or blackscreen by some cable company. Just another example of power hungry corporate america gone crazy. Land of the free my ass.
No I don't mind commercials... and I don't mind paying for premium TV (HD, HBO, Digital Cable)... but I'll be damned if I'll pay for a cable box that forces me to watch commercials, or locks on to a channel so I can't change channels or anything else that takes away my ability to decide what I watch or what my kids watch.
Do I like it? No. Do I understand the need for it? Absolutely. TIVO and DVR are great for us, but if you're an advertiser, why would you pay if everyone is skipping your ads? As more people get access to such technology, free TV will no longer be viable. The economic deal is: You get free TV Advertisers get to promote their products TV station makes money from advertisers Everyone wins. Take out the middle line of that equation, and it all falls apart.
The simple solution? As DVRs units are on the rise, advertisers are starting to hawk their products and messages during programs now. (See American Idol and 24 for good examples of this.) And in some cases, they're even developing their own shows to cleverly disguise product placement. (Gamekillers is a good example.)
I follow but this technology is not dealing with DVR'ing out commercials. They said it is anti channel changing technology and there in lies my complaint. Someone else taking control of something I own/rent and trying to force feed me their advertisements. Maybe a fee is the way to go. I'd pay an extra $20 a month on my cable bill to watch TV with no commercials. I'm telling you my kids want everything they see on TV. My 4 year old son wants a Victoria Secret Model (who doesn't )
I second that motion, Major. I will continue to brag that I can get HDTV free (well, I had to buy the converter) while some friends are paying EXTRA even on top of cable monthly to rent their equipment, when mine paid for itself already. I do NOT want free HDTV to go away.
I did not communicate my point as well as I could have. I should have said "whether you watch the ads or you pay not see them somebody is paying for it". That is what I meant by TV never being free. Not to mention, the cost of those ads is being passed down to the consumer anyway, so we are paying with our time and our money .
Sorry - I didn't mean to imply that solution is directly to the DVR problem. As someone else mentioned, there are things like little popup commercials during the shows that will become more prevalent as well. This, I imagine, is more of a general challenge to getting people view more ads in an environment where there is more technology to avoid ads. The web is suffering the same problem because of ad-blockers being so prevalent. Many content sites are or will be going under or change to a subscription system because of the number of people avoiding ads these days.
Selling a gimped TV would only work if it was 2-300 dollars cheaper. Even then stores would have to give them away.
It was never their intention to force people to watch ad??? MY *SS since it is IN THE TV . . .then they would have to force all TV makers to install it what is the incentive for TV makers? Rocket River
