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New Patent on TV Forces You to Watch Ads

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the forced-attention-spans dept.

WebHostingGuy writes "A patent application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says researchers of the Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a technology that could let broadcasters freeze a channel during a commercial, so viewers wouldn't be able to avoid it. Philips acknowledged that this technology might not sit well with consumers and suggested in its patent filing that consumers be allowed to avoid the feature if they paid broadcasters a fee."

4 of 470 comments (clear)

  1. Umm... by Karl+Cocknozzle · · Score: -1, Redundant

    ...First dupe?

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    Who did what now?
  2. dupe?? by Bl4d3 · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Sorry for burning karma, but is this not a dupe --> http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/ 18/2032219&threshold=-1

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    40% Funny, 40% Insightful, 40% Informative, 40% Dolomite
  3. Repeat!!! by Warlock7 · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Slashdot ran this the other day already!

    What's up? Were you sleeping, Neal?

  4. Re:30 seconds into the future... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    5) ???
    6) Profit