Posted on 07/06/2006 6:08:14 AM PDT by abb
ABC HAS HELD DISCUSSIONS ON the use of technology that would disable the fast-forward button on DVRs, according to ABC President of Advertising Sales Mike Shaw, with the primary goal to allow TV commercials to run as intended.
"I would love it if the MSOs, during the deployment of the new DVRs they're putting out there, would disable the fast-forward [button]," Shaw said.
While MSOs risk losing some of their DVR customers if fast-forwarding were blocked, Shaw said the cable operators--who are beefing up their own local ad sales operations--"are in the same business we're in." "They've got to sell ads too," he said. "So if everybody's skipping everybody's ads, that's not a long-term business model for them either."
Shaw also threw cold water on the idea that neutering the fast-forward option would result in a consumer backlash. He suggested that consumers prefer DVRs for their ability to facilitate on-demand viewing and not ad-zapping--and consumers might warm to the idea that anytime viewing brings with it a tradeoff in the form of unavoidable commercial viewing.
"I'm not so sure that the whole issue really is one of commercial avoidance," Shaw said. "It really is a matter of convenience--so you don't miss your favorite show. And quite frankly, we're just training a new generation of viewers to skip commercials because they can. I'm not sure that the driving reason to get a DVR in the first place is just to skip commercials. I don't fundamentally believe that. People can understand in order to have convenience and on-demand (options), that you can't skip commercials."
Shaw said it's crucial for ABC and networks to hold these discussions with MSOs while DVR penetration is still in its early stages. DVRs are at around 10 percent of U.S. TV households. "It's in our interest and the MSOs' interest to figure out something that works for the two of us," he said.
The frequently outspoken Shaw made his comments Wednesday in a post-upfront interview where he offered up another round of no-nonsense commentary.
Looking back on the protracted upfront, Shaw said he was surprised that competitors at CBS and Fox were so quick to fold the tent and accept buyers' refusals to pay for increased ratings generated from DVR viewing. Shaw had argued earlier in the spring that the ratings jumps--which have reached double-digit percentages for top shows--had value, and he intended to charge for them. He continued that position early in the upfront until it became clear the two other networks weren't willing to hold the line, and had agreed to negotiate on "live" ratings only.
"I'm sure they told their upper management in their two companies why it wasn't a good idea for them to do so," Shaw said. "They and their management must have decided that the same thing we thought was important wasn't important."
Shaw said if he knew he'd be the lone proponent for negotiating on time-shifted ratings, he might have changed course. "Obviously, going back to last February, if I knew nobody else on the entire sell-side of the equation was going to open their mouths besides us, I don't know if we would have gone down the same track," he said.
Some research executives--even at networks with sales departments that acted differently--had argued before the upfront that ads viewed in fast-forward mode generated value for advertisers, since consumers were at least partly exposed to their messages. But Shaw said ABC was only interested in finding a way to receive compensation for un-skipped ads.
ABC's upscale audience, coupled with a strong performance in "A" counties and in leading markets, made his network a must-buy. "If you were looking for those attributes, with the programming on ABC that we deliver, are you going to move those dollars to CBS?" he said. "It doesn't make sense."
No shrinking violet, Shaw is the only sales chief at a major network to speak to the media as part of an upfront postmortem.
As questions fade about whether to negotiate solely on DVR ratings, Shaw said ABC will move aggressively to make deals based on Nielsen's new "commercial ratings," set to be unveiled at the start of the new season. He said ABC was interested in possibly using them as a currency in this upfront, but buyers felt implementing the logistics in such an abbreviated time period wasn't feasible. "We were too late in bringing that to the market for practical reasons," Shaw said. But, he added, "it's going to transform how people buy and plan television."
But Shaw said ABC executives will be fanning out to agencies and advertisers over the next two weeks to present an analysis of commercial ratings data from the last six months, which presents ABC in a favorable light. He added that some scatter business may be written based on the new ratings.
Do you know if Myth TV works with DirecTV? I checked the website and it seemed that it was intended to work with cable.
Because without the commercials the cost of the service would go up considerably. Hey, I hate commercials too, but they pay for network TV.
FNC showed the emmy winners this morning. I have not heard of most of the shows and watched none.
ABC is missing the point. Commercials are embeded in a PRODUCT. People are not watching their PRODUCT.
nah--the software's free.
MythTV uses TV tuner cards that fit into the PCI slots of PC motherboards. These cards work with cable TV or antennas. DirectTV uses its own tuner, so it won't work with these cards.
If the advertisers would make entertaining commercials people would watch. I've even seen a few commercials that were so good I've searched them out on the internet and down loaded them. If you haven't seen the Jack Links "Messin with Sasquatch" commercials you are missing out on some great enterntainment, IMO.
shucks...
Thanks.
I have friends that connect up their notebook computer to their TV just like you would hook up a Playstation. They just play them on their notebook computer and they "play" on their TV.
You can Google up XBMC - Xbox Media Center and see how I do it. Play files stored on a PC on your home network using an Xbox. Or you can just put the files on a data DVD and play them that way using XBMC.
As for where you find these there's the good old fashioned newsgroups method where shows appear only a short time after they air (sometimes an hour). Then there's all those P2P networks (Emule and Bittorrent being the best).
I'm not really advocating doing it this way. Just saying this is an option that lots of people use.
The do that with some long movies.
It way too annoying and screws up the continuity of story.
The bottom line is commericial based television's days are numbered.
Perhaps pay TV will finally be the commercial free nirvana that was the original promise.
Heeeeerree comes nanny state! Hold on ladies and gentlemen, we are about to give up more of our freedoms.
If you recall, Disney (which now owns ABC) fought VCR's all the way to the US Supreme Court. They lost...
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/B/htmlB/betamaxcase/betamaxcase.htm
Not if you output to the tv card from the DirectTV tuner.
Not as convenient, but still possible.
Read Stephen Kings "The Running Man." (The short story he wrote as Richard Bachman -- no the Schwarzenegger movie.) He predicted the "FreeVee Mandatory Consumption/Benefit Law" that required people to have a TV running, 24 hours a day. That way, the populace stayed inside, pacified and narcotized.
The commercials are also darned LOUD. It's as if someone pumped the volume up by ten notches or so whenever they come on...
Then you can only record the one channel that the tuner is tuned to.
The purpose of MythTV is to have multiple tuners and program it to automatically record different shows at different times on different channels.
Yes, it will work, but you miss 99% of the functionality.
The greatest invention ever. It's an idiot proof VCR like device that is in your cable box. You can record single shows or automatically record entire seasons. I record the 5th season of 24 and it's just sitting there waiting for me whenever I get a chance to watch it. You never have to sit through commercials again-simply fast forward. For example a 3 hour football game can be watched in 45 minutes if you fast forward through the commercials, half time, replays, etc...
Heck, they have all gotten together and run their commercials at the same time.
Surfing during a break gets you more commercials.
And they have stretched the commercial break to 5 min. from 3 min.
An hour show now has 20 min. of commercials.
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