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How Could TV Survive Without Commercials?

Posted by Cliff on from the sounding-the-death-knell-of-broadcast-TV dept.

Milo_Mindbender asks: "I'm sure many of the readers of this site know the joy of skipping commercials using a TiVO, Replay or other form of PVR box. I'm sure it has occurred to a lot of us that if someone produced a schedule of commercial stop/start times the PVR could easily make all commercials instantly vanish from a recording. While this would be really cool, if it got really popular it would KILL all the local TV stations and TV networks who depend on ads to survive. Sure, you could say it's their fault for having an outdated business model, but there's a problem: these sources are where A LOT of the content for your PVR comes from. If they die, there's nothing for your PVR to record. My question for this crowd is: 'If the commercials stopped tomorrow, what business models can you come up with that would keep TV content flowing to your PVR?'"

"I've heard a few interesting ideas such as:

  • having people pick a few ads from a list and watch them before each show...
  • ...giving advertisers a profile of your interest and let them show you a (smaller number) of unskippable ads for things you are really interested in...
  • ...ahaving the products show up in the show itself (product placement). For example: Buffy, after killing a vampire, could then slam down a Mountan Dew.
The most obvious alternative is to send your favorite shows to you via broadband and have you pay by the show. But would you pay to watch Buffy, The News, Star Trek? Would you prefer pay by the show, subscribe to a show/network or be forced to watch commercials? I'm interested in hearing what system would bug you the least, or if you have your own ideas how it could work."

5 of 954 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Its funny... by GigsVT · · Score: 0, Troll

    Yeah, and even if you think the BBC is stupid and would never watch it, you don't have a choice. This is socialism, plain and simple. Americans are so quick to give up freedom for a couple channels of fags running around thinking they are funny.

    --
    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  2. Re:I got one... by damiam · · Score: 2, Troll

    Well, even on /. trolls do have a lot to do with goats (what they collect from them I'll leave to your imagination).

    --
    It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
  3. Re:Its funny... by WiggyWack · · Score: 0, Troll

    Yeah, BBC is great if you want to sit around and watch Big Brother and people with bad teeth all day.

    --
    Macintosh humor! MacComedy.com
  4. Re:Its funny... by poojyum · · Score: 0, Troll

    who said there are no ads on bbc? millions of times i have watched loan companies, insurers, car manufacturers advertising their wares on it.

  5. Re:Um, how would anything change? by zenyu · · Score: 1, Troll

    When I go to the store and think "damn my head hurts, I should get something for it", you don't think maybe regular dosings of Tylenol commercials is going to affect my decision?

    Funny thing is Tylenol is less effective than sugar pills on a headache. At least sugar pills theoretically help if your headache is caused by low blood sugar. Take an asprin or ibuprofin if you have a headache, or get some real meds from your doctor. Tylenol is only good for lowering your body temp when you have a fewer.