[mythtv-users] Is skipping ads really a good idea?

Wes Hardaker wjhns176 at hardakers.net
Mon Jun 18 16:06:49 UTC 2007


>>>>> "CB" == Cole Brodine <cbrodine at gmail.com> writes:

CB> What I think is the even bigger discussion item: What if this becomes the
CB> norm, and TV stations lose a lot advertising revenue?  Will cable prices go
CB> up?  Will the quality of shows decrease? (More reality TV makes me sad)

I think the more likely result will be a mix of decrease quality in
conjunction with increased product-placement (it's already on a huge
increase).  Ever see "The Truman Show".  Coming soon to a show near you.

Really there is no way around product placement.  We've been heading
there for a while.  Fast forward in VCR's was step one.  FF on DVRs was
step 2.  And auto-commercial skip (which I love) is going to be the
final nail.  It only leaves 4 solutions:

1) make skipping commercials illegal and technically
   challenging/impossible for closed system devices through DRM.
2) increase in-show commercials (no OTA and we go to all subscription
   cable/etc likely through encrypted systems).
3) user-pays-all-fees for no commercial channels
4) all TV content goes away and we're down to pay-per-use kind of
   architecture only.

I'm sure that the marketers of the world will try to make commercial
skipping illegal at some point (we're near the typing point now; as DVR
use has gone up massively then systems are starting to put restrictive
code into the systems; tivo starting to cave a while ago).

I think more and more dollars though will be retrieved from in-show
commercials though.  The interesting thing will be to see how close they
get to the Truman Show like details where it's obnoxious.

-- 
"In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap,
 and much more difficult to find."  -- Terry Pratchett


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