[IP] more on Philips device could force TV viewers to watch ads

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lee Revell <rlrevell@joe-job.com>
Date: April 20, 2006 8:06:39 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Cc: ip@v2.listbox.com, caesar@starkreality.com
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Philips device could force TV viewers to  
watch ads

On Thu, 2006-04-20 at 19:42 -0400, David Farber wrote:
> Although the public details of this are limited at the present  
> time, one
> wonders what would be stopping "broadcasters" from preventing users  
> from
> changing channels during the show as well?  Maybe I'm a cynic, but I
> foresee
> "broadcasters" using this technology to force viewers to either watch
> "Survivor 2015: LAX" or pay up.

I can't see broadcasters ever deploying this - it would fail in the
marketplace.  I know a lot of people who got hooked on Tivo and now
would give up TV rather than go back to non-skippable commercials.

I think the future for TV advertisers is ubiquitous product placement -
think '24', where every shot has a Cisco, Ford, or Dell product in it.
And it works whether people Tivo it, watch it on TV with the commercials
or download it with bittorrent.

Lee





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