Microsoft Patent Monetizes Your TV Remote

theodp writes "Microsoft, reports GeekWire, is seeking a patent on monetizing the buttons of your TV remote. In its application for a patent on 'Control-based Content Pricing,' Microsoft explains how one can jack up the cable bill of those who dare fast-forward past a diaper commercial or replay a sports highlight. From the patent application: 'If a user initiates a navigation control input to advance past (e.g., skip over) an advertisement, the cost of a requested on-demand movie may be increased. Similarly, if a user initiates a replay of a sporting event, the user may be charged for the replay control input and for each subsequent view control input.'"

Comments

Yet another reason to torrent TV shows

[msobkow]

I don't even own a TV any more -- my computer is my media center. I became addicted to PVR technology in the US when I had DirecTV with TiVO.

When I moved back to Canada, torrents took the place of the TiVO. I'd become addicted to the idea of watching shows when I want to, instead of on some arbitrary schedule. I expected I'd watch more TV seeing as I could watch it whenever I want, but instead what happened is I started watching less -- a lot less.

For some reason, once I broke the mentality of "slave to a schedule", I soon broke the "slave to a series" mentality as well. I still download all kinds of TV series and archive them, but to be honest, I doubt I watch 2 hours of what I download per week. The rest is just archived for that inevitable some-day retirement when I expect to have time to waste time on something as unimportant as series TV.

So pay extra for skipping ads? *LMAO*

Ah well, I guess it's like an atomic weapon. Just because it can be built doesn't mean it's legal to use or would be tolerated by the public.