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PVRs and Advertisers' Worries

Posted by michael on from the boston-strangler dept.

Jurisenpai writes "Today's NYT has an article on the conflicts between PVRs and advertisers, mentioning the recent Sonicblue case, as well as Tivo and ReplayTV."

7 of 491 comments (clear)

  1. NYTimes Account info by josquint · · Score: 3, Informative

    In case you're not the 'free registering' type.
    Use this account info:

    Username: slashdottroll
    Password: slashdottroll

    should work, i just set it up...

  2. Tivo's answer: Semi-intrusive ads by no_such_user · · Score: 3, Informative
    As mentioned in the article, Tivo has "teamed" with Best Buy to bring up a Sheryl Crow video when a Best Buy ad triggers it.

    To bring this video to the box of (just about) every tivo user, Tivo buys time on Discovery Channel around 4:00am. They broadcast the video in the clear and have Tivo record it, but hide it from the list of recorded programs. The trigger to display the icon indicating extra available material is broadcast on a not often used (and masked by the Tivo) secondary closed captioning stream. Tivo intercepts this and acts accordingly.

    Unfortunately, Tivo also adds an extra icon and menu item on the main menu, advertising the availability of (and giving you a direct link to) the videos. This isn't the first time this has happened -- Tivo "teamed" with BMW a few months back to do a similar promotion. There is a big debate going on in the Tivo Community Forums on if this is acceptable to Tivo users (who are already paying $13/mo for the service).

  3. Re:The best PVR advertisement� by phillymjs · · Score: 3, Informative

    Unless you're really feature-hungry, buy the cheapest Series 1 TiVo you can find on eBay, crack it open, put a HUGE hard drive (or two) in it, and get the lifetime subscription if the TiVo auction doesn't include it.

    Works for me-- 120GB HD = 90 hours of programming at "medium" quality. I've got a huge library of shows I like enough to watch a second or third time if nothing good is being recorded, and I still have plenty of space left for the 'disposable' shows that I just time-shift, watch without commercials, and delete.

    ~Philly

  4. Re:One ad model they need to change by interstellar_donkey · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, modern commericals are broadcast with side (unseen) data. This is used so advertisers can verify their commercials were actually played, as opposed to the olden days, when they had to litearly pay somebody to sit and watch TV all day and manualy record when the advertisers commericals were aired. Automated commercial skipping in VCRs simply look for that, and stop the recording mechinism.

    =

    --
    The Internet is generally stupid
  5. Re:pay-by-the-show? by Kombat · · Score: 3, Informative
    With the onset of digital cable and satellite, along with pay-per-view, I think a more sustainable model for the future is "micropayment pay-per-view"

    Careful - this may not fly. Consider Canada. We're legally not allowed to pick and choose whatever channels we want, because of the CRTC's (Canada's FCC) Canadian content regulations. Cable providers are legally prohibited from delivering us a package of channels that contains less than n% Canadian content. So while I'm allowed to say "I want CBS, NBC, and ABC", I'll also be forced to pay for CBC, ATV, and MuchMusic.

    --
    Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
  6. Re:If they're so worried about Tivo by cpt+kangarooski · · Score: 3, Informative

    So? What's the problem with that?

    Advertisers are simply taking a gamble that 1) people will watch shows, 2) will therefore watch their ads, 3) will therefore purchase whatever it is that is being advertised.

    It is EXACTLY like people who send you junk mail at their expense, hoping you'll be receptive to it. Or people who advertise in newspapers (assume free papers -- there are plenty), who pray that people won't skip past the ads to the content.

    If they don't like giving away shows for free, I can't make them. But I HATE advertisements and will never ever look at one if I can avoid it. Fortunately I'm still free to take the free content.

    What's the big deal? It's hardly as though free tv is sacrosanct anyway.

    --
    -- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
  7. HOW TO TURN ON THE 30 SEC TIVO SKIP by cybrpnk2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the TiVo FAQ:" In 2.5, there is a unofficial, undocumented way to turn on 30 second skip. This will turn the "skip to end" (->|) button into 30 second skip. However, this means you will lose the current functionality of that button, including skip to tickmark while in RW/FF. To try it, enter the following sequence of buttons: Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select. The code will toggle 30 second skip off/on so enter it again to switch back if you don't like it. Also, after any reboot, the button will revert to original standard functionality."