FARK.com: (2158556) ABC's execs want to stop DVR ad-skipping, thinks consumers won't mind. That loud noise you just heard was everyone calling them "idiots" at the same time

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(AdJab.com)		ABC's execs want to stop DVR ad-skipping, thinks consumers won't mind. That loud noise you just heard was everyone calling them "idiots" at the same time (adjab.com)		124
		More: Asinine

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8286 clicks; posted to Main » on 07 Jul 2006 at 5:31 PM | Favorite | share:

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damageddude		2006-07-07 01:49:37 PM

Hmmm. Where's my VCR?

jbmmwest		2006-07-07 01:54:55 PM

agree, time to wipe the 3 inch layer of dust. Consumers will always find away around because ads are too much.

5000_gallons_of_toothpaste		2006-07-07 01:56:22 PM

Well, as long as there is a fast forward button...

Godfrey		2006-07-07 02:01:58 PM

ABC execs can die in a fire. Most shows are now up to 1/3 commercials, and it's to the point I don't even want to watch live TV any more because of having to sit through four- and five-minute blocks of lame commercials.

I just burned a bunch of my wife's saved Good Eats episodes onto DVDs. After clipping out the commercials, I was able to fit seven "half-hour" shows on discs that're supposed to hold around two hours' worth of show. That's just pathetic.

Deveyn		2006-07-07 02:31:49 PM

Godfrey: Most shows are now up to 1/3 commercials

That's true for just about everything. I usually start watching TV shows 20 minutes into them so I can use the Tivo to skip the commercials and the show ends right on the hour.

Mr Guy		2006-07-07 02:32:24 PM

There's always the option of making good commercials. There are actually commercials I've seen that I went looking for again to show my wife because they were really done well. Just last night, my wife stopped me from fast forwarding through a commercial for TLC because it was funny.

cmunic8r99		2006-07-07 02:37:38 PM

My DVR (DishNetwork's version) does the 30-second skip... The ReplayTV box i had before it did the same thin. not sure how other DVRs do the ad skip, but here's a theory...

It usually takes me a second or so to activate the next skip, and since the breaks are different lengths (sometimes), I usually end up watching the last 30 seconds of ad time anyway.

The networks (and ad producers) need to make it so the most important information shows up every 30-ish seconds, and put the most expensive (and most important to the station/cable company/network) ones on last.

/my $.02

WakeMeWhenItsOver		2006-07-07 02:43:47 PM

Head On, apply directly to the forehead.
Head On, apply directly to the forehead.
Head On, apply directly to the forehead.

And now back to your regularly scheduled Fark thread.

s_mcdonald		2006-07-07 02:44:46 PM

Godfrey: I don't even want to watch live TV any more because of having to sit through four- and five-minute blocks of lame commercials

Exactly my feelings on TV.

rlrevell		2006-07-07 02:49:51 PM

Product placement is so aggressive these days, why do they even need commercials? A show like 24 is just a 45 minute commercial for Dell, Cisco, and Ford.

Godfrey		2006-07-07 02:51:53 PM

Mr Guy: There's always the option of making good commercials.

Given that I know quite a few people who are more interested in the Super Bowl commercials than the Super Bowl itself, you may have something there.

Heck, I used to love watching the Cleo Awards, and I would happily watch ads of that quality if they were all like that (though I expect I'd fast forward through the "repeats" once I'd seen them enough times).

Of course, if they really wanted people to watch their commercials, they'd put some nudity in them.

lexshine		2006-07-07 03:16:03 PM

technology is so far ahead of them they can never stop it. if they rrequire DVR companys to put some chip in where you can't fast forward through commercials, that will only kill the DVR's and people will use computers to record their shiat.

death to commercials..

flaminio		2006-07-07 05:36:51 PM

Select - Play - Select - 3 - 0 - Select

Dalton Voss		2006-07-07 05:37:07 PM

When DVRs are outlawed...

jonj1980		2006-07-07 05:39:14 PM

cable is even worse, what with all the re-runs. and, just piss poor programs.

and the floor show never ends		2006-07-07 05:39:25 PM

Excellent comments! I do not think this'll fly. If it does, there must 50 Ways To Hack Your Player.

Blindstealer		2006-07-07 05:39:37 PM

Next target: the mute button.

crackityjonesjr		2006-07-07 05:39:47 PM

Submitter: ABC's execs want to stop DVR ad-skipping

And I wanna be in a hot tub with Kate Beckinsale, but that doesn't mean it's ever gonna happen. DVRs are so popular now becuz subscribers CAN skip past commercials. Without this function, there's not much point in owning one.

robolobo		2006-07-07 05:40:06 PM

WakeMeWhenItsOver: Head On, apply directly to the forehead.
Head On, apply directly to the forehead.
Head On, apply directly to the forehead.

And now back to your regularly scheduled Fark thread.

i hate this commericial more than i have hated any non-living thing... but i have to admit that it is effective.

flaminio		2006-07-07 05:40:22 PM

These guys were way ahead of ya':

www.maxheadroom.com

/blipverts!

Fnord		2006-07-07 05:40:22 PM

submitter: ABC's execs want to stop DVR ad-skipping, thinks consumers won't mind.

Not much of a surprise. ABC is owned by Disney, who's infamous for putting non-skipable filler at the beginning of their DVDs.

Brad_Will		2006-07-07 05:41:11 PM

The DirecTV R15 does something called "30-second slip." Unlike 30-second skip, it isn't instantaneous. It's more or less a fast-forward in 30 second increments; if you want to move ahead 2 minutes, you hit the button 4 times.

30-second skip is roughly 2349082903850934 times better.

Udontknowme		2006-07-07 05:41:30 PM

Watched a movie on FX last night. Every six minutes they cut away and went to 4 minutes of commercials. One block of commercials contained the SAME commercial 3 times.

Won't be watching FX again...evar.

RaceBoatDriver		2006-07-07 05:42:08 PM

Memo to ABC: Primetime shifted to 8:30 PM about two years ago.

troymccluresf		2006-07-07 05:42:09 PM

Of course, if we keep skipping ads, we'll end up with more "pop-ups" with sound and other shiat.

LadyHawke		2006-07-07 05:42:23 PM

Fark you WakMeWhenItsOver.

/that commercial is actually worse than the Carl's Jr. fetus

Perducci		2006-07-07 05:43:03 PM

How about just showing a couple of ads at a time? Break for commercial for 30-seconds or a minute and a lot of people wouldn't bother skipping ahead.

And cut down on the damn frequency! I don't need to see the same ad fifty times!

portscanner		2006-07-07 05:43:31 PM

WakeMeWhenItsOver
Head On, apply directly to the forehead.

I have seen that commertial several times. I still dont know what that product is.

/ waiting for someone to outlaw going to get a beer or take a leak when the commertials are on.

verrucagnome		2006-07-07 05:45:10 PM

and the floor show never ends
Excellent comments! I do not think this'll fly. If it does, there must 50 Ways To Hack Your Player.

Or pissed off people will start using HTPCs with non-defective software as DVRs. There's a price differential but ABC et al shouldn't underestimate what people would pay for not being intellectually UFIA:d while watching tv. After all, that's why premium cable channels exist in many markets.

Eric Hexagon		2006-07-07 05:46:40 PM

If ABC manages to air anything worthwhile, it'll be on the internet, edited down to "The good part". Example: SNL.

UltraFark		2006-07-07 05:46:56 PM

I came to this thread and did a search for MythTV and saw nothing so I'll be the first to say it.

MythTV = Problem solved

AuralArgument		2006-07-07 05:47:35 PM

Mr Guy:

But that means the ad execs gotta hire real creatives who do their own art on the side.

They also demand more (Flexablity rather then pay) then the leeches that they got working in there now.

Pxtl		2006-07-07 05:47:42 PM

I heard there's a liveCD-based MythTV distro that makes it pretty easy to do it yourself. Might be time to bring the TV-Wonder out of retirement.

At any rate, they said it best in Ozy and Millie: the people who pay the TV station are the advertisers. The advertisers are paying for viewership.

As such, the viewer is not the customer - they're the product. And savvy, discrete, PVR-using people who skip commercials are low-grade product. Meanwhile, spend-happy teens with malleable parents are high-end.

Esion Modnar		2006-07-07 05:48:59 PM

I would suffer through a headache rather than buy that stupid Head On product. It could be the best stuff in the world, but I won't reward the company's obnoxious advertising. They need to have their heads slammed into the concrete (at least 3 times in succession).

shirtsbyeric		2006-07-07 05:49:19 PM

I was watching "Helter Skelter" in broadcast tv and every commercial block started with a Folgers commercial.
/Didn't anyone make the connection?
//Abigail Folger was a victim.

B.J. McKay		2006-07-07 05:49:26 PM

Microsoft Media Center + Recorded TV + VideoReDo with AdDetective = no more commercials!

/ don't have a Tivo

Nakito		2006-07-07 05:50:05 PM

I have noticed that new VCRs (including combos) are poorly made. This makes me think that the analog hole might not always be here. We assume the continued existence of equipment that can intepret an analog signal. But with the passage of time, the good old stuff will wear out and might become irreplaceable.

Zylon		2006-07-07 05:52:32 PM

No, I will not pay to download jokes to my cellphone.

And anyone who does, should be sterilized on the spot.

verrucagnome		2006-07-07 05:54:00 PM

Pxtl
As such, the viewer is not the customer - they're the product. And savvy, discrete, PVR-using people who skip commercials are low-grade product. Meanwhile, spend-happy teens with malleable parents are high-end.

So true. So I guess the future in countries lacking popular non-commercial television will be endless variation of the Olsen twins productions coupled with animations tied into pre-pubertal video-games for boys.

e_man182		2006-07-07 05:54:29 PM

Udontknowme: Watched a movie on FX last night. Every six minutes they cut away and went to 4 minutes of commercials. One block of commercials contained the SAME commercial 3 times.

Was it the Hitman: Blood Money commercial?

Bertuccio		2006-07-07 05:56:32 PM

So, viewers stop watching ads, advertisers stop paying TV ppl, ads + TV die.

-We all win, yeah!

JohnBigBootay		2006-07-07 05:56:41 PM

I am the best TIVO remote user EVAR!

old_fat_intheway		2006-07-07 05:57:58 PM

If they kill commercial DVRs then I expect I will be building Mythtv's for my whole family. Sorry networks.

Hey why don't they get smart and instead of providing an easy 19 frames of black between commercials and shows, mix it up like Sci-Fi sometimes does. Nothing is more annoying than finding your recording half gone because they eliminated the commercial breaks at the end of commercial #1 and the beginning of commercial #2.

I think it is OK for companies to do this even though I love my commercial free television. It's their signal.

Dilbert J. Galt		2006-07-07 05:58:45 PM

robolobo
Head On, apply directly to the forehead.
Head On, apply directly to the forehead.
Head On, apply directly to the forehead.

And now back to your regularly scheduled Fark thread.

i hate this commericial more than i have hated any non-living thing... but i have to admit that it is effective.

Of course it's effective, you need the stuff to get rid of the headache the commercial gives you.

/Like the glass shop owner breaking windows.

FlashHarry		2006-07-07 05:59:53 PM

When I lived in France, all the commercials came at the end of the programs, but people still watched anyway. Mostly because they had teh nood laydeez in them, but still...

LavenderWolf		2006-07-07 06:01:50 PM

Nakito - The problem there is the end result HAS to be an analogue form.

So even if all other forms of piracy are eliminated, one guy with a great TV and a great video camera can still copy movies, and a guy with great stereo equipment can still do good song rips.

Riche		2006-07-07 06:05:55 PM

Thanks to the whores in congress THAT YOU VOTED FOR, The day is rapidly approaching when you as a TV viewer will simply not be legally allowed to have full control over what the TV equipment YOU BOUGHT AND PAID FOR will/won't do.

Hell, that day is already here for the newer stuff. All the technology is developed, debugged, and waiting for you on the shelves at Best Buy right now, if you haven't bought it already.

But, hey, at least the Gheys can't get married! And that's what's important. Right?

Thank you, "Values Voters."

Face the future: It's either gonna be no-skip ads for the DVRs or pop-up ads DURING the show. Or maybe both.

You will biatch, piss and moan, but will you go back to watching American Idol or turn the farking TV off?

Well, guess which way ABC is betting.

And I think they're going to be right.

With my Divx/mpeg 4 compatible DVD player, DVD burner, Netflix account, large hard drive, bittorrent software, and a library of about a brazillion TV shows and movies I figure I'm good for the next 10-15 years or so.

The content I have may not all be in 5.1 surround sound or HD, but at least I have control over it.

After that? Meh. I guess I'll read more often.

Wadded Beef		2006-07-07 06:06:23 PM

I love my DVR. I set it to record NFL games and then I start watching it from the beginning about 90 minutes later. Zipping throuh ads, I can watch an entire three-hour game in about 80 minutes. It's awesome not feeling like a couchbound 'Sunday sloth' like I did before.