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TiVo to Sell Your Fast-Forward Button

Posted by jamie on from the sky-is-falling-but-first-this-word dept.

Thomas Hawk writes "PVRblog is reporting today that TiVo will begin to place banner advertisements on your screen when you are fast forwarding. As one of the whole points for people getting a TiVo is to remove obtrusive advertising, it seems like a really bad move to force advertising on people at the exact moment that they are using your technology to avoid advertising. This act points to the desperation of TiVo and their management team and although it might help them in the short run it will most certainly backfire in the long run." This is ironic for a company whose slogan used to be "TV Your Way," but not surprising, since its CEO says he wants to move to a largely advertiser-supported revenue stream. I've bought three TiVos in the past four years, but my next PVR will run MythTV -- unless HR2391 passes and makes me a criminal for skipping commercials.

5 of 777 comments (clear)

  1. Everyone chill out! by Slider · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wow, talk about overreacting.
    Do you really think Tivo is stupid enough to alienate its customers? If you read the article you'll see that this in no way interferes with skipping commercials. It basically expands the "press thumbs up for more info" tag that appears in the top right of the screen during some commercials and makes them more of a billboard size. This is actually a popular feature among Tivo users as you could say, get a brochure for the new Corvette sent to your home by simply pressing thumbs up during the Chevrolet commercial. I welcome this.

  2. Re:I dont think its such a bad idea by kb7oeb · · Score: 5, Informative

    Thats not true, many of the channels charge the cable company per subscriber with ESPN and Disney being the most expensive

  3. Email Directv and Tivo by thealpha · · Score: 4, Informative

    Let them know that you are not pleased. I just sent a message to directv and will follow through with cancellation if this becomes reality. I have a PVR just don't use it because the Tivo is easy for my wife and kids to use.

    Here is a link to the Directv Feedback page,
    http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/glb/Form_Feed back.ds p

    and a link to Tivo's contact page
    http://www.tivo.com/5.9.asp

  4. Re:I dont think its such a bad idea by Monsieur+Canard · · Score: 4, Informative

    Then why did my cable bill go up $3 a month when Steinbrenner's YES network was forced on me? It really irks this BoSox fan that part of my bill is paying Yankee salaries.

    --
    He took a duck to the face at 250 knots.
  5. Enable the 30 second skip and don't worry about it by Luscious868 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just enable the 30 second skip and you'll never use fast forward to skip commercials again. When it's enabled, the -->| button becomes a 30 second skip button.

    To enable:

    1. Grab your TiVo remote.

    2. Bring up any recorded program. (You have to be watching a recorded program rather than "Live TV" in order to enable the feature.)

    3. On your TiVo remote, key in the following sequence:
    SELECT PLAY SELECT 30 SELECT

    4. If you've successfully entered the code, you should hear three "bings" in succession to inform you that you've successfully enabled the 30 second skip.

    The only down side is that any time your TiVo is rebooted (such as after a power outage or a software update) you'll have to re-enable this feature.