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

[David Brodbeck]

On Jun 18, 2007, at 9:30 PM, Peter Schachte wrote:

> Wes Hardaker wrote:
>
>> 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 expect broadcasters will try #1 and #2.  If neither works and the  
> advertisers
> abandon TV in droves, I guess we'll get #4.

You have to figure that, as the Internet becomes faster and more  
ubiquitous, programming being on-demand and streamed over the network  
will be more and more common.  You won't tune in to a channel; you'll  
go to the network's website and watch whatever you want there, or do  
something similar through a set-top box.  Some of these will be on a  
subscription model, some will be ad-supported, and some will have a  
tiered system where you can pay to avoid the ads.  When you're doing  
streaming video you have a lot more control over whether the user  
skips ads or not.

The cost in infrastructure and resource consumption to constantly  
blast out a 960 kilowatt signal just in case someone wants to watch  
something contained on it at that exact moment is eventually going to  
start to look pretty silly.