http://now.msn.com/entertainment/0527-skip...ls-illegal.aspx

DVR has been around for over a decade and they're bitching about it NOW?

1) So what if they win? How will they enforce this, aside from making DVR illegal?

2) Cable/satellite companies would fight this tooth and nail because DVR costs customers extra and is very popular.

How do they enforce it? Simple. Disable fast forwarding.

Eh. Dish isn't ReplayTV. They've got the resources to fight this.

The difference between a regular DVR and DISH's Hopper is that with the Hopper you just press a button and it skips the commercials instantly. With a DVR you're still fast forwarding through the commercials. At least I think that's what the Hopper does.

Honestly, I'm against this.
I'm ok with skipping commercials, but don't fucking automate it.

I thought you still had to press a button?

Who the hell wants to watch commercials anyway? Screw advertising. Between word of mouth and the internet, I learn plenty about available products without a dam commercial.

Yeah, but it's advertising that pays for the shows we watch. What happens if those ad revenues begin drying up?

Having to fast forward through ads, and occasionally let them run because I'm barely paying attention to the TV, seems a decent trade-off for free entertainment.

Then you can pretty much guarantee that product placements will become even more frequent and obnoxious than they are currently.

as someone who does fast forward through commercials, I'm against it. There are no shows without advertisements, That's what helps pay for them. Does anyone honestly not understand how television works? Take away advertising dollars and tell me how shows and networks are profiting from a program? Do you honestly think people are going out and buying tons of mad men merchandise?

Edit: so it's either, deal with commercials, deal with ridiculous amounts of product placements and in show ads, or start watching telelvision shows on a pay per view basis.

I deal with commercials, thanks.

I only fly Mohawk.

I also enjoy the irony in mad men being a show about advertising that says the name "jaguar" 800 times an episode, for what it's worth.

However, I can't think they are paying for their name to be associated with the last episode, but I can't believe they would do it without permission either. I'm interested to hear about that relationship.

We fucking get it dude. We know how TV works. Actors get in front of the Wonkavision camera, then it turns them into millions of tiny particles that are then beamed into your TV. We've all seen that episode of 'How It Works'.

And yes, I wish I could watch all the shows I want on a PPV basis - or at least let be pay for may cable a la carte - meaning I only pay for the channels I watch. You know how many channels of shit we pay for and never watch?

And let me ask this - how many people honestly pay any attention or are influenced to make a purchase based on a commercial?

I'm the wrong person to a part of this - I think the advertising industry is a waste of everything that it involves.

Puck was touched by an ad as a child. SHOW US WHERE THE AD TOUCHED YOU!

That's a completely separate issue. You take that one up with the cable company.

As far as Pay Per view for your shows, Let's look at how much a season pass costs on Apple right about now. Looks to be between $40 and $50. So, you would pay a cable bill, because that isn't magically going away, on top of paying about $50 for EACH show you watch in order to watch a full season?

This isn't even getting into any movie channels or sports you watch. Movies would probably be about $5 as that seems to be the going rate for on demand and sports would probably be about $115 a year based on MLB season pass.

Let's be moderate and say you watch 10 shows a year, I think that's fair, so you're at $400. You watch a hockey season and I believe you watch football as well right? So there's $230.

So this is based off of you saying you would watch all your shows on a pay per view basis. Well, when you actually watch a pay per view event, you pay the cable company, and it's not like that's taken out of your cable service, so you are STILL going to have a cable bill on top of the $630 a year you are now ADDITIONALLY spending, because if you think pay per view is going to do away with a cable bill, you're high. They are still providing a service.

Again, I'll take the commercials.

If the numbers I said sound appealing to you puck, go out and buy an Apple tv, drop your cable company and pay for all your shows without advertisements. Problem solved.

That will work for sports and movies as well. It seems I just solved your long running beef with cable companies.

An a la carte model would probably destroy a lot of those smaller "fringe," channels, as they can only exist when forced down our throats.

As a guy that only watches Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, FX and AMC (and, I guess, NBC, ABC and Fox, since you're proposing getting rid of advertising and, therefore, free ota channels) I'd be mostly ok with this, as those channels all do decently well, but a good chunk of other channels would disappear. Right now their existence is subsidized by other, larger channels.


Also, you pay more attention to commercials than you think. Do you use Tide? Can you name, off the top of your head, more than 3 kinds of deodorant. Commercials! And regardless of how often you pay attention, or think you pay attention, companies still pay huge amounts of money for that moment of your time. If you were guaranteed to skip them then those amounts would drop.

Studies/surveys on its effectiveness now are mixed bags, but it's supposedly been very effective. You don't need to pay a ton of attention for them to work.

Meowmeowmeowmeow, meowmeowmeowmeow, meowmeowmeowmeowMEOWmeowmeowmeow.

Actually the a la carte idea was shot down a few years back because the cable companies bitched to the FCC. I'd have to look it up for the details.

I don't feel as if I pay a single bit of attention to them but I own two swiffers (a wet and a vacuum) and a swiffer dust cloth thing.

Clearly some of that ignoring commercials has paid off.

As in any other media or aspect of life, the march of technology is unstoppable. Production studios and carriers will have to find a way to adjust if this becomes prevalent amongst TV viewers, just like the movie and music industries have. Obviously I don't have as much a stake in this as you guys do, but I'll be happy to deal with whatever arrangement the NFL and other sports leagues come up with if it means that I never have to see another Coors or Bud Light commercial for as long as I live.

AND TWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNS!

Chicks dig the long ball.

?

That's like the squirrels that were getting it on on our deck yesterday - I don't know how the male was able to walk.