TV Networks are now saying skipping commercials are illegal

[IDrinkaRum]

Fox, NBC, and CBS are upset that Dish Network has released a DVR with a commercial-skipping feature.

They are so upset that Fox has refused to run the commercials for the product. Also, all 3 networks are taking this issue to court trying to say that it's illegal to skip commercials on a recorded show.

As the article points out, will networks then sue individual show watchers when they go to the bathroom during a commercial?

I get annoyed with the TV Shows On Demand and the fast forward button has been disabled and I'm forced to watch the commercials. (What's the point?)

What does everyone else think?

[siead_lietrathua]

really? i think it's a few seconds uot of my life, and won't kill me to watch them. *shrug*
i know commercials can be stupid, but advertising is part of our economic structure, and creates a fair number of jobs. if i ever get TV again, i'll use commericals to grab a drink, play with cats, check email, or other small tasks like i did before when we had it. really, what's the big hurry? watching TV is basically a time waster. why freak out over having time wasted in your time wasting activities.....

[LexiaFira]

seriously? if it was going to turn into this kind of BS then WHY invent the tivo and push it like no tomorrow. they can ONLY do this on recorded shows not tv. and the space is limited so trust me not a big loss.
otherwise just yank tivo from everyone. but that will be a big debacle

[bex1218]

I liked the whole recording thing from DVR. I hardly watched shows when they aired. Now I watch stuff online. I don't mind the 5 commercials compared to the 10 or 15.

I'm more ticked about companies trying to say skipping commercials altogether is illegal. They just want more money in their pockets.

[bainsidhe]

At first I chuckled at the title and then I realized, the networks are serious. The reason I'm aggravated is because the networks are trying harder and harder to strong-arm consumers into buying a cable package for the sake of their advertisers. DISH's plan obviously upsets the advertisers.

I don't have cable. Don't want it, don't need it, and am glad to cut the extra expense from the budget. I watch shows online, usually at CBS or on Hulu. I also have Netflix (still cheaper than cable). Except for Netflix, I can't avoid watching commercials online. Annoying yes, but hey it's free content and I'll deal with it. Yet more and more shows are becoming unavailable online in an effort to force me to subscribe to cable. I won't do it. And while I enjoy certain shows, eliminating them just means I'll forget about them and never ever watch them again. If the shows were available online, they'd have their advertising dollars, and I'd probably buy the DVD if I liked the show. Their loss.

[Duelist925]

This is remarkably stupid. Half the reason most people get tivo or dvr is to skip commercials--the other half, of course, being convenience.

Stating its illegal to skip commercials...Ok, I get the issue with Dish marketing something speficifally towards that. But if they ever tried to enforce this on a consumer level...oooh boy the backlash.

[MadMike]

The advertisers brought it on themselves by gradually increasing the length and frequency of commercials. I don't think anyone really minded that much at the beginning, but now it seems like half the show is commercials. And trying to watch a movie on network TV is unbearable, especially towards the end. It seems like they're stopping for commercials every 5 minutes. I watch very little network TV anymore, and I flat-out refuse to watch a movie that's been editted for network TV.

[Nekojin]

The really sad part of this is the fact that this has already been litigated. It's done, as much as anything ever CAN be done in law. The Betamax case labored over the fact that people could skip those all-important revenue streams, er, commercials! And yet, the Supreme Court was unconvinced that time shifting (which includes commercial-clipping) was a serious infringement that needed to be prevented.

All I can figure is that they think that they've got a court environment that's more sympathetic to corporate litigants... because the case law should make this a very short case.

[Racket_Man]

actually this has already almost gone to court 9 YEARS ago with Replay TV.


Wiki Info here (look in the Legal Battle section

the networks sued the company for the same reason as above but before a decision was rendered Replay TV file for Chapter 11 and the feature "Autoskip" in the new model of the settop box was disabled but still working on older boxes.

This time you have a big enough company with enough $$$s to keep it going.

Let us see how this plays out in this time frame

[lordlundar]

I see this much the same as with newspapers. They're scared they will have to change with the times and advances in technology so they demonize the new approach just to hold onto their ageing and collapsing business plan. Eventually they won't be able to keep it going and either be forced to change or die off. Even those that are forced to change probably won't survive because they stalled for too long. Too little too late and all that.

[bara]

I see this much the same as with newspapers. They're scared they will have to change with the times and advances in technology so they demonize the new approach just to hold onto their ageing and collapsing business plan. Eventually they won't be able to keep it going and either be forced to change or die off. Even those that are forced to change probably won't survive because they stalled for too long. Too little too late and all that.

My problem with newspapers is they just repeat the same shit you see everywhere else. What the hell happened to investigative journalism? Without real reporting, papers are just going to die.

I can even find the comics online, which is the only useful part of the local paper. If I pay 50 cents for a newspaper I want news. Not advertisements about the newest penis or anti hair loss pills.

And about skipping commercials? Crap they even show then at the theater now.

Who the fuck thought this idea. I paid to see the movie, not the latest levi jeans commercial. Commercials are half the reason I stopped watching TV, the other half is that Ive memorized all the reruns of the good shows that used to be on.

[Mr. Security]

I hate commercials, that's why I download all of my shows(not to mention cable is costly for me as I get paid crap) so I can watch them without any interruptions. It's annoying when your really getting into a show and then it breaks for several minutes of commercials.

[telecom_goddess]

And trying to watch a movie on network TV is unbearable, especially towards the end. It seems like they're stopping for commercials every 5 minutes. I watch very little network TV anymore, and I flat-out refuse to watch a movie that's been editted for network TV.

Same here! I very rarely watch any live tv anymore, and very little network tv even on the dvr. The one exception I make is Big Bang Theory, it's worth fast forwarding thru commercials for that lol. But movies, oh no I don't like edited for network tv versions. They cut out too much and make it less "offensive" and ruin the whole film. I'd rather watch it uncut on dvd/netflix/cable.

watching TV is basically a time waster. why freak out over having time wasted in your time wasting activities.....

I disagree! If one did nothing but watch tv then yeah you're wasting time. But to watch it to be able to relax and get away from real life for a bit, that's why entertainment is around. I have to be able to chill out in front of a tv in peace for at least a little bit every day for my own mental health.

[siead_lietrathua]

I disagree! If one did nothing but watch tv then yeah you're wasting time. But to watch it to be able to relax and get away from real life for a bit, that's why entertainment is around. I have to be able to chill out in front of a tv in peace for at least a little bit every day for my own mental health.

i didnt mean it as a waste of time. it is a time-waster though. its the thing done when you have time to waste. lol.
i mean more like, if you are sitting, just chilling, staring at the screen, and not in a hurry to be anywhere or do anything, than it's hard to complain about commercials wasting your time when that time was free anyway. if you had something that you were in a hurry for, you wouldnt be watching a tv program slotted to run over that time in the first place.

sidenote: if people hate commercials so much, why not just go the REALLY old fashined way, and get a VCR. lol.

(all "you"s are generic of course)

[SongsOfDragons]

I use the TV to create background noise when I'm pottering about the kitchen or writing. I find it's better than music.

Sometimes it's fun to find really old crap adverts on home-taped videos XD. Especially for companies etc who are long out of business.

As for avoiding adverts...they want me to pay attention to them and they cannot make me. Even if they make it illegal to skip them they cannot enforce any further legislation on the viewers - how would they know? Surely using Sky+ to whizz through the adverts is similar to what these guys are doing? They could always put a fast-forward lock on the commercial bits...

All hail the BBC and their lack of rubbish... -_-