You must watch commercials!

[Sky]

From the 'This Product Will Never Make It To The Shelves' Department:

The technology, says Philips, will stop a user from changing the channel, forcing the viewer to watch a commercial until it was complete. The only problem is that after the commercial is complete, if the viewer changes the channel and lands on a station in the midst of a commercial, the viewer may get locked in.

...yeah...good luck with that...

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1847

[Signe]

What a dumbass thing to invent. 

[Sairon]

As people get more and more prone to switch channel when the commercials are on, something like this is bound to get standardized. Won't take long before the pirates figures out some way to by pass it though.

[Roac]

As people get more and more prone to switch channel when the commercials are on, something like this is bound to get standardized. Won't take long before the pirates figures out some way to by pass it though.

Or people just turn their TV off and go do something else.

[tazelbain]

Obviously, people are looking to accelerate the demise of TV.  People want more freedom, not less. Dumbasses!

EDIT: Spellling Gerbil was giving me dirty looks.

[Merusk]

As people get more and more prone to switch channel when the commercials are on, something like this is bound to get standardized. Won't take long before the pirates figures out some way to by pass it though.

Or people just turn their TV off and go do something else.

You have more faith in mankind than I do.  That, or you've never encountered the people who turn on the TV just because, "it feels weird when it's not on."

[WayAbvPar]

As people get more and more prone to switch channel when the commercials are on, something like this is bound to get standardized. Won't take long before the pirates figures out some way to by pass it though.

If they flag it to identify the commercials, it will be easy to use the flags to edit/avoid the commercials. Expect the first mod a week after it hits the streets.

[HaemishM]

Instead of trying to clamp a user on a specific channel, advertisers need to go blipvert. They need to start designing broadcast ads with very clearly distinguishable messages when viewed at 2x and 4x speeds. So you get ads with very keyframe heavy ad copy.

Or just, you know, make money some other way by giving consumers what they want.

[Samwise]

Eh.  I only get 2 channels anyway.  Still a retarded idea.  If we didn't already have the same "OPERATION NOT PERMITTED" feature on DVDs, I'd say it'd never fly.   

[schild]

Tom Smykowski: It's a "Jump to Conclusions mat". You see, you have this mat, with different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.
Michael Bolton: That's the worst idea I've ever heard in my life, Tom.
Samir: Yes, this is horrible, this idea.

/obvious

[MrHat]

I was pretty sure this entire webcommunity was based on that jump-to-conclusions mat.  God damn I love office space.

Personally, I'm still waiting for tv ads to come onto my screen pop-up video style, followed with a tivo thumbs up to save for later.

[Sky]

Tangentially, since we're talking about things mom doesn't understand...

I broached the issue of the government-sponsored vouchers for a/v converters that'll be needed when analog broadcast becomes illegal (next year? I forget the exact cutoff point), because my mother has always had analog antenna-fed tv, she doesn't know anything else. I explained the issues (more bandwidth, blah blah), and how it should be as simple as getting a converter, and that the gubmint was going to give her a voucher for $40 toward one if she applied...

I could see the poor lady's head spinning. Guess I better look into it, another thing Washington is foisting on the people who understand it the least.

Ok, did a cursory look and it's not until 2009, applications in 2008. But sounds like anyone with a rural luddite mom like mine better be paying attention:

People are supposed to apply for the vouchers during a three-month window in 2008, and use them within three months. But there probably won't be enough vouchers to go around, and no one really knows how much converter boxes will cost

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/04/technology/pluggedin_digitaltv/index.htm

[Fabricated]

God, I, am, so, angry, at, whoever, is, responsible, for, this, idea, it's, a, fucking, tragedy, that, you, can't, make, someone, burst, into, flames, with, just, your, pure, hatred.

[stray]

God, I am so angry at whoever is responsible for this idea it's a fucking tragedy that you can't make someone burst into flames with just your pure hatred.

More commas, please.

[Signe]

Bigger commas!

[Roac]

On-demand posting?

[Pococurante]

Sod the commas! Follow the colon!

[Hokers]

Not worried, just got done upgrading my Tivo from 40 hours to 260 hours.  Seems to be working fine.  I now have the confidence to do whatever hack I need to avoid this.

Someone else is going to have to create the hack though, I am Linux ignorant.

[schild]

Fabricated's post is pretty much awesome now.

[Yoru]

As people get more and more prone to switch channel when the commercials are on, something like this is bound to get standardized. Won't take long before the pirates figures out some way to by pass it though.

Pssst. We.. I mean, they, already did. The magic word is "bittorrent". Pass it on.

[Ironwood]

As people get more and more prone to switch channel when the commercials are on, something like this is bound to get standardized. Won't take long before the pirates figures out some way to by pass it though.

Or people just turn their TV off and go do something else.

You have more faith in mankind than I do.  That, or you've never encountered the people who turn on the TV just because, "it feels weird when it's not on."

Whatcha' Readin' For ?

[Tebonas]

This must be a bad idea from Philips. It brought out Schilds old avatar.

[stray]

As we speak, I'm reading various things and watching BitTorrented TV at the same time.

[Sky]

Stray gave Iran the nuke. Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done.

[Yegolev]

Instead of trying to clamp a user on a specific channel, advertisers need to go blipvert. They need to start designing broadcast ads with very clearly distinguishable messages when viewed at 2x and 4x speeds. So you get ads with very keyframe heavy ad copy.

I think you are right, the effective ads would be the ones that look normal  on 4x TiVo speed.  The thing the brain trust at Philips doesn't seem to get is that the era of live TV is coming to a close.

Good thing I have a nice, healthy game addiction.

[Miasma]

The U.S. Philips website actually has "A Statement from Philips regarding TV viewing & commercials" section on their frontpage trying to distance themselves from this.  It's some horrible PR, I know I wouldn't buy anything from them now.  Of course I wouldn't have bought anything from them before either since whenever I think "Philips" I also think "Second rate crap".

[Trippy]

Instead of trying to clamp a user on a specific channel, advertisers need to go blipvert. They need to start designing broadcast ads with very clearly distinguishable messages when viewed at 2x and 4x speeds. So you get ads with very keyframe heavy ad copy.

Or just, you know, make money some other way by giving consumers what they want.

KFC did something like that except that the special coupon code was only viewable in slow motion. Your idea is better though since people won't have to know about the promotion ahead of time to see the "message".

[Trippy]

The U.S. Philips website actually has "A Statement from Philips regarding TV viewing & commercials" section on their frontpage trying to distance themselves from this.  It's some horrible PR, I know I wouldn't buy anything from them now.  Of course I wouldn't have bought anything from the before either since whenever I think "Philips" I also think "Second rate crap".

Hahaha! Philips is so full of shit:

Concerning television viewing and advertising commercials

New York, United States, April 19 2006. To clarify any confusion regarding the intent of this application, Philips stated,

“Inventors from Royal Philips Electronics (Philips) filed a patent application, as yet not granted, that enables watching a television movie without advertising.  However, some people do want to see the ads. So, we developed a system where the viewer can choose, at the beginning of a movie, to either watch the movie without ads, or watch the movie with ads. It is up to the viewer to take this decision, and up to the broadcaster to offer the various services.

Philips never had the intention to force viewers to watch ads against their will and does not use this technology in any current Philips products, nor do we have any plans to do so.”

Here's the actual patent and the Abstract:

Abstract

An apparatus (270) and method is disclosed for preventing a viewer from switching from a channel when an advertisement is being displayed on the channel. The apparatus (270) and method comprises an advertisement controller (270) in a video playback device (150) that (1) prevents a viewer of a direct (non-recorded) broadcast from switching channels when an advertisement is displayed, and (2) prevents a viewer of a recorded program from fast forwarding the recorded program in order to skip past advertisements that were recorded with the program. A viewer may either watch the advertisements or pay a fee in order to be able to change channels or fast forward when the advertisements are being displayed.

I don't see anything about user choice in the Abstract.

Let's look more closely:

[0008] In one advantageous embodiment, the present invention comprises an advertisement controller and advertisement control software in a video playback device. The advertisement controller executes advertisement control software to activate a first Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) application. The first MHP application detects a first control signal in a broadcast that requests exclusive control of the channel switching function of the video playback device. The first MHP application notifies the viewer that the advertisements must be viewed in order to view the content of the program. If the viewer does nothing for a selected period of time, the viewer is deemed to have accepted the requirement that the advertisements be viewed in order to view the program content.

Okay so here's the "choice" part -- accept the ads or you can't watch the programming. Oh and BTW, accepting the ads will automatically be selected for the viewer after a certain amount of time -- i.e. it's the default action. So the choice is programming with ads or no programming *not* programming with no ads or programming with ads.

[Yegolev]

They need to figure out how to keep my ">>" button from working.  Philips: 0, My Thumb: 1.

[Trippy]

They need to figure out how to keep my ">>" button from working.

That is part of the patent (see quoted abstract above).

[Yegolev]

They need to figure out how to keep my ">>" button from working.

That is part of the patent (see quoted abstract above).

It also specifically relates to a "direct (non-recorded) broadcast", so unless they manange to keep me from recording it in the first place, My Thumb still wins.  I don't watch live TV anymore unless my no-patience wife makes me... mostly this is Battlestar Galactica.

[Trippy]

They need to figure out how to keep my ">>" button from working.

That is part of the patent (see quoted abstract above).

It also specifically relates to a "direct (non-recorded) broadcast", so unless they manange to keep me from recording it in the first place, My Thumb still wins.  I don't watch live TV anymore unless my no-patience wife makes me... mostly this is Battlestar Galactica.

(2) prevents a viewer of a recorded program from fast forwarding the recorded program in order to skip past advertisements that were recorded with the program

[Yegolev]

I am not a patent lawyer.

[Sunbury]

Speaking of commercials, why on Fox News, CNN, etc do they hide the news scroll when the commercial starts?

Bloomberg TV just shows the commercial in the little window the live programming plays in, and the stock scrolls keep going.

If I'm on Bloomberg I'll stay when a commerical starts, if I'm on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, I'll change channels.  But if the scroll kept running, I may stay, then I may listen to the commercial.

On a side-side note, why when a sporting event is tape delayed, and you miss content during commercials (say an auto race), why don't they just stop the race tape, play all the ads they want, then when back, start playing the action from where it left off?

[pants]

While I hate commercials as much as the next TV-watcher, as TiVos and PVRs and the like get more popular something like this is bound to happen.  We all know that commercials finance the TV channels, and people put commercials on TV so that people will watch them.  As TiVos and the like get more popular, you can bet some stats will come out how the %age of commercials being watched has dropped however much, so the advertisers will pay less money, which means the TV channels will go broke, which means no TV.

Now you can say 'Har har sux 2 be u overpaid TV execs!' - and talk about instigating some form of micropayment system for watching your TV shows - but the TV industry has been around 50-odd years now, based on the premise people watch ads.  If people stop watching ads, of course stuff like this is going to come out to make them watch ads.  It sucks, but I can't see medium term any other options besides TV channels going broke.