Mandatory commercials

Phillips patent:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220060070095%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20060070095&RS=DN/20060070095

apparently, they want to control the viewers setup so that they can prevent you from fast-forward/skip/switch channels during commercials.

How long before we see similar commercial stunts in games? would anyone of you incorperate such methods into your creations? any comments?

It's already in onlnie games....

[edit]

Do you guys have to pay a TV license fee over there?

in what form?

Not in such a bad way. I've played a few freebee games, every 5 minutes the game breaks and displays a 1/2 minute advert, then, back to the game.

You also get adverts forced on you when watching some video footage online.

No, we pay for the service provided by the various companies that offer it.

we have a TV license fee in Norway for a state channel called NRK. Its a channel that is supposed to cater to all parts of the society, but in my experience is only for kids and 40+.
They charge everyone with a TV/video/dvd/tv-tuner aprox. $320 a year even if you watch it or not.

Else we have several commercial channels such as TV2, TVNorway, TV3 and so forth.
These interrupt programs every 15 minutes with around 5-10 minutes of commercials. This is way better than US shows which seems to interrupt programs every 5 minutes or so.

Like paying for Sky? (or do I misunderstand you?) We pay that too.

HAHAHAHAHA... this is so wrong it is almost funny. I wonder if you are allowed to switch off the TV, or to walk into another room. If you are allowed to switch it off, and then switch it on again, I guess the TV is still locked to the commercials? What if you happen to switch on the TV and they are showing these 24 hours home shopping commercials, HAHAHA, you have to buy a new TV!! :D

Sky+ rocks because you can forwardwind the adds at 32x speed.

I don't get any commercials at all, as I dumped TV completely about 15 years ago, roughly when they stopped bothering to have any real content for grown ups. I might seek out the odd programme now and then, but that's it.

Now, alas, Radio is going that way too. The BBC is trying to flog me digital DAB radio now. I'll not even think about getting one of those until they learn how to properly set up and use the AM and FM they already got me into.

hehe, you made me laugh out loud :D

I record everything I want to see so that I can flip through the adverts, UK TV, especially Sky is become more and more like US TV with all the ad breaks and drives me nutz.

Cheers

Garion

Imaging simply browsing among the channels trying to find something good to watch on such a TV:

<zap> Nah... <zap> Nope. <zap> Heck no. <zap> maybe, but lets see what else is on. <zap> --ADVERTISEMENT-- (remote locked out for 5 minutes)

This will cause so much resentment among viewers that I kind of doubt it will ever really catch on.

Of course, one key thing to remember is that YOU, as the viewer, are not the customer. The *advertisers* are the customer, and you, the viewer, are the product being sold to THEM.
The actual TV show itself is nothing more than something to keep you, the product, from wandering off too far while your eyeballs are being sold to the highest bidder.

I just fell out of my chair at work because of you...

In the USA, Public Television (PBS) is free. They receive some funding from state and federal governments, but we are not charged any fees. However, several times a year, PBS stations/network do ask for donations from viewers as the government continually cuts back on their funding.

We do not have cable, and rely on "free tv". IMHO, most of what is on free TV is crap except for what is on PBS. I love shows like Nova, National Geographic, various Britcoms that are shown, etc. Good, quality, "family-friendly" programs. Other than PBS, the only other station we watch is a Christian station out of PA.

You're not missing much.

You don't have cable/sky? You're kidding right? Whats that NBC we get and Fox? :P

No cable tv and no sattelite tv. Way too expensive. In a couple of years when they throw the switch and quit broadcasting analog signals, we won't even have "free tv".

Over here, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, UPN, WB, PBS are "free tv". You can get those without cable or sattelite subscriptions with a simple set-top antenna.

... aren't you glad of all those InjuryLawyers4U adverts on T.V. now...

I say sue xlsior for criminal injury and then sue your employers for (a) having furniture without safety bars to keep you in your seat and (b) negligence in allowing you to read funny forum posts during the working day.

I thought of that all by my self and was in no way influenced by the amount of daytime TV advertising I get saturated with....

If this technology became mandatory in all new TVs, imagine how the price of old used TVs would skyrocket. :-)

Can't understand why they bothered patenting it. If someone implements their technology in a TV set, that TV will simply not sell...and customers who inadvertedly buy it will surely return it as broken.

slight hijack:
http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=2&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=mind.TI.&s2=control&OS=TTL/mind+AND+control&RS=TTL/mind+AND+control

The airwaves are supposed to be 'publicly owned'
The government sells usage of 'the airwaves' to TV stations 'in the name of the people' and collects the revenue 'for the people'.

But when an actual member of the public wants to broadcast something themselves its called a PIRATE TV or radio station!

This mandatory TV commercial stuff is another step away from the original public ownership of broadcasting

I think TV has had it's day. Soon all programs will be pay per download and you'll watch them on your wi-fi multimedia PC. The BBC already do this, except without the paying bit.

Sorry. :-?

Seriously though, if you think about it, viewers are just a means to an end for TV producers. They get their income from advertisements broadcast during the show, not payments from the actual viewers... Meaning they have an entirely different motivation than you do.

It's also why 'reality shows' are so popular these days -- very cheap to produce, with relatively high returns. queue the sci-fi channel, that gladly axes a program like farscape (which has had one of their highest ratings ever but costs them a million a half an episode to produce) in exchange for 'talk shows' like crossing over which fills just as much time but the production costs are three bucks and a box of donuts.



For now.

As you may now know, analog broadcast TV as we know it is about to be scrapped in the US. I forgot the exact date, but IIRC by late 2008, the analog broadcast spactrum will be revoked by the FCC.

At that point, you will no longer be able to receive any free over-the-air analog TV signal. Supposedly there will be a digital broadcast TV replacing it in many markets, but at the very least you'll need either an expensive set-top convert box, or a new digital TV.
At the same time, the FCC is attempting to mandate a copy control flag, by which any broadcaster can prevent your recording devices from recording any channel or show. So if they get their way, you might as well throw away your VCR or DVR.

The supposed idea behind this mandatory shift away from analog TV is that it uses a huge chunk of 'public' airwaves, and there are billions or dollars to be made by moving to a much narrower digital spectrum, so most of the remaining frequencies can be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

As with many of the other digital rights management 'solutions', the general public is generally blissfully unaware of what's currently looming over the horizon, and will remain so until it's too late.

*sigh*...

Of course a side effect of digital broadcasts (if even available at all where you are), is that you're screwed if you're in a weak signal area. With analog signals, you just get some snow or crackly sound. with digital receivers, you'll be looking at a blue screen 90% most of the time. It'll be either full quality, or nothing at all.

(Meanwhile, all I have myself is a pair of rabbitear antenna's at home, over which I can receive four and a half channels. I refuse to pay the $50+ a month for basic cable or satellite service, it's simply not worth it)



Of course, with every TV producer wanting a couple of bucks an episode for each show (if the going rates at itunes are any undication), you'll run up an insane bill real fast.

Title III--Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act - setting a firm date of February 17, 2009 for the cessation of Analog broadcasts.

Most markets are already broadcasting in digital alongside the analog. It is hard to find converters for under $200.

We collect old time radio shows in mp3 format and listen to those instead of watching tv. More quality and more entertaining than anything on TV.

well.... just the same.. someone has to pay for the programming.

Eventually.. and it will be a long long process... tv will go away or mostly away.

It will be replaced with something that isn't streaming, there will still be ads, but there will be no -day- therefore, a station can have as many active shows as they want, or as few.

that, or it will all move online, where you can buy either a view or ownership of a movie file, much like you can buy show Dvds in the store... there are already people who don't have cable anymore, but buy TV shows on DVD. They can watch them any time commercial free, and watch them as many times as they like.

my hope is that we'll be able to view any shows we want, after watching a set of ads, something like coming attractions at the movies, and then get to see the show commercial free from then on. a balance of commercial viewing v shows. Afterall, either we pay with our time or our money. It will cost the same either way.

Might as well get targeted ads to our specific requested things, which will mean less ads and more ads geared towards what products we need, and maybe with the option to buy away the ads if they really bug you that much.

Shows cost money to make, bottom line. Someone has to pay.

whether or not you paid will be irrelevant -- if if they add ads as well, they'll get paid by both you AND the advertisers. You can bet that they'll add as many ads as they can get away with... And unfortunately most people are willing to put up with quite a bit. It'll be tweaked to squeaze out the last possible penny of profit.

Even in the cinema you have 20+ minutes of ads before the movie now. (And they make it sound as a 'feature' -- and now, the "<cinema name> 20!"

also got to love those DVD's with un-forwardable/unskippable menu's... Especially disney childrens DVD's are pretty nasty in that respect. You'll get to 'enjoy' previews of all their other crap under the sun before the actual movie starts. Ever watched a movie with a 3-year-old? 9 out of ten times, he'll see a preview for another movie, and want to watch that one instead. Of course that DVD *also* has previews, which will advertise yet another movie he'll want to see instead.

Bleh.

don't like it, don't put up with it.

Don't buy it, and or complain to the company about it.

Those are your options, both are legit ways to voice concern. It is best to do both, example, when cartoon network shows live action movies, I e-mail them telling them why it is a poor practice to do so, and I express that I won't watch the movie on principal.

I have not watched a few movies I've never had the chance to see before, because they do not belong on the cartoon network.

That particular beef began with MTV. I am intollerent of networks showing things that don't fit their model.

my family is not a nielsen box owner as of yet, so my views don't count nearly as much as they will once my family is accepted again.

We once were part of some other ratings system, but nielsen carries the most weight.

Well, I'm not buying Phillips.

Too bad for them!
(Morons)

Forced to watch commercials? It will take more than disabling the fast forward button.

I am irresistably reminded of A Clockwork Orange; Alex in a strait jacket with his eyelids clamped open. That's what it will take to force me to watch something.

In our country (Australia) I think they are moving to have all digital signals by 2008 as well (or is it 2010?). Thankfully there is nothing to watch on the television. The occasional console game gets played, perhaps a handful of DVDs watched each year. The only time even the radio gets put on is to listen to a football match (AFL/VFL - Go Hawks!) if my team is playing interstate.

Radio is king! I listen to it every day - or have it on as background noise, at least. And it's all BBC, so, no commercials! :)

> And it's all BBC, so, no commercials! :)

You know the real crime, here in the states the BBC channel has blasted commercials too!

Bummer. I guess, because you don't need a TV licence (i.e. BBC funding), the BBC (or whoever) need to generate revenue by adding commercials. I think you can get a live feed without commercials off the net - not always convenient, though. :)