Posted on 04/20/2006 6:26:51 AM PDT by Xenophobic Alien
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In this era of easy ad skipping with TiVo-like video recorders, could television viewers one day be forced to watch commercials with a system that prevents channel switching?
Yes, according to Royal Philips Electronics. A patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said researchers of the Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a technology that could let broadcasters freeze a channel during a commercial, so viewers wouldn't be able to avoid it.
The pending patent, published on March 30, said the feature would be implemented on a program-by-program basis. Devices that could carry the technology would be a television or a set-top-box.
Philips acknowledged, however, that the anti-channel changing technology might not sit well with consumers and suggested in its patent filing that consumers be allowed to avoid the feature if they paid broadcasters a fee.
On Wednesday, company officials issued a statement that noted the technology also enables the opposite: allowing viewers to watch television without advertising. The intention was never to force viewers to watch ads against their will, the company said of the technology.
"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," the company stated. "It is up to the viewer to take this decision, and up to the broadcaster to offer the various services."
The company also said it had no plans to use the technology in any of its products.
Philips wanted to provide the technology and seek the patent only as part of the broader developments within the industry, Philips spokesman Andre Manning said.
If they can make us pay for TV transmitted through the free atmosphere that we let them use, I guess that we can charge them more for broadcast rights.
Would Queen Hillary use this to force her royal subjects to not change the channel during her televised appearances?
Heck, now you can download episodes from ITunes for 1.99, might be worth it.
If you don't watch TV, this can't happen to you...
Lot to be said for the old sytstem of changing channels by a big hard-wired knob on the front panel of the TV.
Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears..... well, you know.
I'd say that this would be the prime method of abuse. Probably the 'first' method that it would be used for would be 'Emergency broadcast system' type things. For our own good, you know.
Then commercials. Then, 'important politicial messages'. Then, who knows.
Viacommie and Time-Warner want your money to subsidize their programming even if you "boycott" it. They will fight against Ala Carte channel selection.
The other question is what happens when you are channel surfing and hit a channel with commercials on??
Are you stuck on that channel until the commercial is over..
That would REALLY tick me off!
Edison Carter, where are you?
That's my choice. We ditched our TV in 1990 and I don't miss it a bit. One of my favorite Freeper quotes: "TV is a garbage disposal in reverse. Turn it on and the contents of a sewer pour into your house."
Oh I know they are going to fight against it, tooth and nail, but that's the only model that makes sense...
I haven't had cable in over 4 years, and honestly don't miss it a lick.
During major news events I miss not having Fox News, but other than that I'm no longer a boob tube addict. Watch very few shows, and enjoy all the extra free time that sitting in front of the idiot box used to rob from me.
Same can be said about my old VHS VCR. I will be able to find tapes for years! There's no way they can take away my ability to fast-forward through commercials.
Besides, anybody who has TiVo already believes in the "principle" of paying a monthly fee (beyond their cable bill) to watch TV, charging them to skip the commercials is probably going to work more often than not.
"If they can make us pay for TV transmitted through the free atmosphere that we let them use, I guess that we can charge them more for broadcast rights."
Hmm. Yeah...
The Broadcasters are using OUR property to transmit their garbage... trespassing without our permission or consent. How about a class action lawsuit to make every Broadcaster pay every American homeowner for... um, "airspace transmission rights"? :-)
Hey, if they're gonna pass (oops, I meant 'buy") laws that require us to sit through TV commercials unless we pay 'em a fee, I say we stick to them as much as we can in return (though not watching their garbage, or buying ANYTHING they advertise is a good start)...
Re their threats to force us to watch commercials -- I don't think so ... There is radar, and radar detectors. So if they try that, hackers will make and sell workarounds, and if the congress critters make that illegal, it will be on the black market at swap meets, etc.
Somehow, they are going to lose this battle in the long run ...
Andre fire the jerk who came up with this idea!... He is hurting the company as it is.. right away, fire him!
The more functions they put into a tv, the harder it can be to "safely" pull the plug. You might have to "reboot" your tv a couple times if you don't go through the proper "shutdown" procedure.
Or maybe you would have to reprogram all of your channels (like you do with a VCR). Sure they could have some memory with a battery backup for some data, but it depends if they want to serve the industry or the consumer.
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