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Disney Says, You WILL Watch the Ads

smooth wombat writes "ABC and ESPN, both owned by Disney, have struck a deal with cable operator Cox Communications to offer hit shows and football games on demand, but with the condition that Cox disable the fast-forward feature that allows viewers to skip ads. This is the first agreement of its kind. It only applies to Cox's video-on-demand service and will not affect viewers using DVRs to fast-forward through ads. The companies will also test technology that will place ads in shows based on ZIP Codes and geographic area, and 'freshen' the ads with new ones every few days."

5 of 456 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Customer says by decipher_saint · · Score: 5, Informative
    IF Wikipedia is correct they own;

    Disney-ABC Television Group

    * U.S. Television Networks:
    o ABC, Inc
    + ABC Television Network
    # ABC Daytime
    # ABC Entertainment
    * Greengrass Productions
    * Victor Television Productions
    # ABC Kids
    # ABC News
    # ABC Owned & Operated Stations
    * WLS Chicago - Channel 7
    * WJRT Flint - Channel 12
    * KFSN Fresno - Channel 30
    * KTRK Houston - Channel 13
    * KABC Los Angeles - Channel 7
    * WABC New York - Channel 7
    * WPVI Philadelphia - Channel 6
    * WTVD Raleigh-Durham - Channel 11
    * KGO San Francisco - Channel 7
    * WTVG Toledo - Channel 13
    + ABC Radio (ABC Radio & ABC Radio Networks have been acquired by Citadel Broadcasting, the sale has not yet been completed)
    o Disney ABC Cable Networks
    + Disney Channel
    # Playhouse Disney
    + Toon Disney
    + Jetix
    + ABC Family - formerly Fox Family & The Family Channel
    # BVS Entertainment - formerly Saban Entertainment
    # Jetix Latin America
    # Jetix Europe (Disney 74%, public shareholders 26%)
    # SIP Animation (undisclosed minority stake)
    + SOAPnet
    * U.S. Cable Network Equity Holdings:
    o Lifetime Entertainment Services (joint venture between Disney (50%) and Hearst Corporation (50%))
    + Lifetime Television
    + Lifetime Movie Network
    + Lifetime Real Women
    o A

    --
    crazy dynamite monkey
  2. Re:Well, then by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sounds great. so how are you going to get your mythTV box to record cable when they encrypt the firewire connection and nobody has cracked a cablecard tuner to work with it?

    comcast detroit is ready to switch to all digital cable. your fancy QAM A180 tuner card will not get many channels and your high end NTSC tuner card will get nothing.

    thiat is where it is going for CableTV. It SUCKS for Mythtv right now as NTSC is going away and Cable is hell bent on putting unsanctioned PVR's out.

    Your only choice is a Tivo Series 3 with 2 cablecard tuners or wait for the Vista-blessed-edition-MCE with cablecard capability.

    The cablecard makers have vowed that it will NEVER work with linux or regular unblessed MCE pC's.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  3. Re:Well, then by russ1337 · · Score: 5, Informative

    >>> ..for people who want a DVR and not an ongoing project...

    I'd say that traditionally you would have been correct. But I just built my second mythtv for the house (Dual core, Ubuntu 7.04, Mythtv 0.20). It took me less than a day, and most of that was just messing with stuff I didn't need to mess with. Last time, a year ago, it took about a week.

    The Ubunut7.04 recognizes the PVR-150 out out the box and has a full mythtv package in the repo's. It was a case of one click. No more IVTV rubbish and just follow the instructions to get your remote control working. All not that hard even for a noob like me.

    Haven't seen any TV ads for a couple of weeks now.... Unlike Cox cable users....

  4. There are other ways to ignore the ads... by cjmnews · · Score: 3, Informative

    10. Take a nap
    9. Fix a snack
    8. Let the dog out
    7. Check your email
    6. Get a drink
    5. Go to the bathroom
    4. Stare into space
    3. Read an article
    2. Smooch
    1. Mute the sound

    --
    You can lose something that is loose, so tighten the loose item so you don't lose it.
  5. Re:Well, then by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wifey is the biggest compu-dunce in town, and she loves MythTV.

    She likes to sit and flick through the movie listings. She loves the fact that it records every episode of Scrubs.

    Extremely high WAF.

    Conflict resolution? Three tuners, and a small instruction to wifey to use "find one" instead of "record this". Change the background image? Why the hell would she want to do that?

    Seriously, if the moaning about downtime when I'm upgrading it is anything to go by, it's by far the most adored piece of technology in the house, bar none.