Mark W.
Posted on 05/02/2002 6:45:29 AM PDT by 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.
Want to prove it, simply change the channel or radio station during a commercial. You will find that they have timed things so that you will see or hear anthor commerical. It's telling....
"Over Casa Grande?"
"I'll never get over Casa Grande..."
Kellner is so full of used food. He's part of the reason that Cartoon Network dumped the old Speedy Gonzalez cartoons, too. What does that tell you about his mindset (or lack of it)?
This comment is so breathtakingly stupid, it's hard to know where to respond first. There isn't a contract between the viewer and the broadcaster. The viewer gives nothing in consideration to be able to watch the programming, thus no enforcable contract. The fees paid to cable companies, TV manufacturers for the equipment, and dish providers are separate contracts for their products and services, not for the underlying programming. If you have an internet service contract are you required to view CNN.com?
It appears that the ad companies are realizing the TV is not an effective medium and are not paying broadcasters high rates. Perhaps they are taking Neisen ratings and cutting off the top a number based on the sales of digital recorders, assuming everyone using them is cutting commercials.
Why? That was one of the best cartoons out there!
Got there a long time ago. When I go visit folks, I am simply amazed at what they will sit and watch. The acting is so obvious, the stories are stupid. The subject is inane.
I would rather watch paint dry. I have come to the conclusion that the ability to watch television must be some mass mental illness.
my tivo is the best consumer product i have ever purchased. i couldn't be more pleased with it.
* i don't work for or represent tivo inc in any way..blah blah blah
Neither did I
Next they well tell you that you have to watch all the shows too.
They have to hold a gun to my head to make me watch commercials. If it were after me they would be outlawed.
And I'm still going to go to the can or fridge when I feel like it. The DMCA has got to go. This is just nuts.
Excactly
Agreed, but it wasn't (let's say it together...) "politically correct". Never mind that plenty of Hispanics protested Turner/WB's decision. Political correctness is rampant in the hallowed halls of Techwood Drive.
Mark W.
How cheap are these spots? How do these POS companies with fake products afford the hundreds of daily spots? Who would be stupid enough to buy this crap?
If they put annoying commercials on the air... I use the mute button or change the channel to avoid them.
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