The OTHER options they have are digital lockout on changing rhe volume/channel (like a DVD remote is locked out when you load most discs) or these new 8 second "branding" corporate anthems (its not just the networks that use them these days).
I did not know that!
The thing is that many television viewers loathe commercials because they're frequently insulting and obnoxious. If Madison Avenue would grasp that and reform their tactics, they would find an audience more willing to absorb their pitch more willingly. It appears that their intention, though, is to cook up techological processes to counter prior technology which made them extraneous in some respects.