SKIPPING COMMERCIALS IS STEALING ACCORDING TO TURNER CEO

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[Grig]

It was inevitable. The broadcast industry is now describing people who skip over commercials as thieves! And with new technology like HDTV and insane laws such as the DMCA, they may very well make it stick in the future.

Jamie Kellner is the chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting, which encompasses everything from CNN to TNT and is a part of AOL Time Warner. On Monday, an interview with Kellner appeared in CableWorld.

In response to a question on why personal video recorders (PVR's) were bad for the industry, Kellner responded: "Because of the ad skips.... It's theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you're actually stealing the programming."

While most programming on American TV is so insultingly bad that nobody would ever need to steal it in the first place, there is great danger in permitting this line of reasoning to become accepted. If this is seen as a "problem," expect legislation forbidding any device that allows consumers to skip the sacred commercial. Kellner, however, is not completely unreasonable. When asked if he considers people who go to the bathroom during a commercial to be thieves, he responded: "I guess there's a certain amount of tolerance for going to the bathroom. But if you formalize it and you create a device that skips certain second increments, you've got that only for one reason, unless you go to the bathroom for 30 seconds. They've done that just to make it easy for someone to skip a commercial." Heaven forbid.

The text of the entire interview can be found at http://www.inside.com/product/product.asp?entity=CableWorld&pf_ID=7A2ACA71-FAAD-41FC-A100-0B8A11C30373.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

OK, I realize this was not Ted his ownself, but this still doesn't stop me from believing that Ted Turner needs to just go away and never come back.

[tcostell]

How about a law requiring remote controls that only work in the first 5 minutes of the hour.
Or TV's with no channels. you need to sign up with a network first to buy one.
Ooh, I know, how about a law that requires us to attend a camp for commercials every year. They can monitor our viewing, and that will decide how much time we spend at the camp.< /sarcasm> (sarcasm "end block" included to be sure that I don't give anyone any ideas)

[Teacher317]

Don't leaf through that magazine, either, Buster! I saw you skip those 5 pages of anti-smoking, automobile, and Tampax ads!

[apochromat]

Isn't anyone going to get on this thread and call this position "Luddite"?

[AUgrad]

If this is seen as a "problem," expect legislation forbidding any device that allows consumers to skip the sacred commercial

I guess they'll try to outlaw remote controls.

[CharacterCounts]

Actually, the reverse is the case. The broadcaster's TV waves have been entering the transistors and printed circuits of my TV, without my permission, for years. I am entitled to punitive damages for trespass. This is especially true for CNN, since their TV signal has no socially redeeming value.

[Aeronaut]

Get one of these and park it in front of the idiot box:

Get one of these and park it in place of the idiot box:

[3AngelaD]

Homer Simpson already tried this, with very mixed results.

[DuncanWaring]

Or better yet, park the Idiot Box in that thing.

[Rebelbase]

"Am I guilty of grand larceny when I change channels during commericals in an attempt to watch 3, 4, or 5 shows at once? "

That would make you a "serial thief".

[KS Flyover]

Here's the entire interview:

Content's King - Jamie Kellner controls Turner's programming riches.

[BAware]

Like you, I can not stand drug commercials. Am TOTALLY against the biggest drug dealers in the world cramming their products down my throat. Besides, time IS money, and when they start paying me to watch TV, I'll start watching their commercials. My rate, $50.00 per half hour. The meter is on.

[WIMom]

I pay a monthly fee to have cable TV. If I dine at a restaurant and decided not to eat the baked potato, will I be forced to eat it anyway? After all, I am paying for the meal. Is this any different than deciding not to watch a commercial in which I've paid to view?

[Just another Joe]

Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots.

I don't remember signing a contract with the network.
If I had I would have put a salary clause in it.
So, if they say I have a contract with them, where's my salary?
I WANT COMPENSATION!

[AFreeBird]

O'l Ted's elevators don't go to the top, do they?

The guy ought to seriously look into spending some quality time at some sort of institution - With padded rooms.

[Paul Atreides]

I remember a show back in the 80s called Max Headroom, in which, as an aspect of the plot, it was illegal to own a television with an off switch.

Does this mean if I drive down the road and don't look at the Pepsi billboard I have committed a crime? What about when I look at a magazine and don't stop to stare at an ad for Vagisil for five minutes? Or, what about when I go to the movies and arrive in the middle of the coming attractions? What about when I throw junk mail away? What about when I flip to another radio station during a commercial?

I'm so glad, with the terrorist attack on 9-11, that some people haven't lost their perspective!

[Right Wing Professor]

This is a beautiful demonstration of the absurdity of the concept of 'intellectual property'. What they'll do is pass a law to insert a chip in all TVs to force you to hit a button to agree to watch all commercials when you turn the box on. And it will be illegal to circumvent this button, just as it's illegal to circumvent the license agreement in a piece of software.

'Intellectual property is a fraudulent attempt to hijack the proper legal protections afforded real property.

[dighton]

I don't even watch the damn programs, so toss me in prison.

[cardinal4]

TV show cutting to commercial: "Mom,what do you do when you dont feel...fresh?"

Cardinal4,aiming remote: Click.

There is a reason the remote was invented;to skip over ads for Feminie Hygeine products,ads for 24 hour NBA channels and any spot,ad,commercial with the following people in it; Barabara Streisand,Alec Baldwin,algore,Hillary,Brittany Spears,any rap or R&B artist,WWF,the Lifetime channel,Oxygen............

I watch FOX news (especially if Laurie Dhue is reading the news!)and sports.Commercial TV just sucks anymore.Screw anyone connected with Ted Turner,anyway.

[hauerf]

I don't want armed agents of DMCA enforcement knocking down my door thereby possibly triggering an ugly fire fight. I am going on the record right now in this public forum. I do hereby swear that I have never fast forwarded through a commercial and I have never had sex with that women, Miss Lewinsky.