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Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT

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Rekrul

Member

Idiots...

"Their wrongheaded decision requires us to take swift action in order to aggressively defend the future of free, over-the-air television."

Except that this isn't free, over-the-air television. It's a subscription satellite company where the customers directly pay for the programming they watch in the form of monthly fees.

They also conveniently overlook the fact that such features are a direct response to the ever increasing amount of commercial time that the networks keep cramming into shows. An "hour" show is barely 40 minutes. A "half-hour" show is only 20 minutes. Think about that for a second; An "hour" show contains as much advertising as a "half-hour" show contains content!

Back in the 70s, shows had a full title sequence, short commercial breaks with maybe 5-8 minutes of ads per hour and then full closing credits. Now shows have a short title sequence and the cast list plays over the opening scene, 20 minutes of commercials per hour, annoying ads down in the corner of the screen (I've seen ads for actual products!) and then the credits are scrunched and whiz by too fast to read so that they can show you ads for other shows. Plus, don't forget all the product placement in the shows which is often jarring and in-your-face.

Couple that with steadily rising cable/satellite costs that can easily see people paying up to $160 a month (phone, internet & TV) even without premium channels and is it any wonder that people are getting fed up with all the extra crap invading their shows?

TV viewers see commercials as a necessary evil in order to watch their shows. TV execs see shows as a necessary evil in order to get people to watch their ads.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Idiots...

Actually the company pays to show it on their network. It still is free to the public who does NOT wish to pay for Dish or cable. Those monthly fees are for copyright rights, and more importantly to give those customer service reps jobs and to support an entire distribution network.

And when you take those ads away from OTA TV- what happens to those networks and those new shows? they go away. Why? because those ads pay to support those shows. The same as if you were to buy a commercial during a certain program - it goes to pay for that- that the whole "sponsored by"

And this is more about Dish recording these shows and allowing for the ads to be skipped- that creates a copyright issue.

DeathK
Premium Member
join:2002-06-16
Cincinnati, OH

DeathK

Premium Member

Re: Idiots...

said by 25139889:

And when you take those ads away from OTA TV- what happens to those networks and those new shows? they go away. Why? because those ads pay to support those shows. The same as if you were to buy a commercial during a certain program - it goes to pay for that- that the whole "sponsored by"

The ads aren't being removed. They're being skipped. It makes no difference whether someone watches an ad or not. It's still there and the advertiser still pays for its transmission. The money being received by these networks from advertisers is most certainly at an all-time high. If someone skips over a commercial during the playback of recorded content on their DVR or they get up and walk out of the room during its live transmission the money that was paid for it doesn't suddenly go *POOF*. The notion that the sky is going to fall if everyone doesn't watch ads is bupkis.
said by 25139889:

And this is more about Dish recording these shows and allowing for the ads to be skipped- that creates a copyright issue.

Dish isn't doing anything other than offering a more convenient way to skip over ads, something people do already with their DVR's (and like Karl mentioned before, the network execs like to bury their heads in the sand and act like this doesn't happen). Nothing is being removed or modified on the recorded content, thus no copyright issue. The commercials are still there, they were still aired, they were still recorded, and the network still gets their advertising dollars.
Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT

1 recommendation

Rekrul to 25139889

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to 25139889
said by 25139889:

Actually the company pays to show it on their network. It still is free to the public who does NOT wish to pay for Dish or cable.

Except that the dispute isn't over a stand-alone DVR that works with an OTA signal, it's about a feature on a proprietary box provided by a pay-TV company. Meaning that the only people who will be using this feature are those who already pay a monthly fee to receive that programming.

Free, OTA TV watching isn't being changed at all, at least not yet. Only a paid service is changing.
said by 25139889:

And when you take those ads away from OTA TV- what happens to those networks and those new shows?

Those ads are still there for OTA users. Companies may add a similar feature in the future, but so far it's only been added to a pay service.
said by 25139889:

And this is more about Dish recording these shows and allowing for the ads to be skipped- that creates a copyright issue.

No it doesn't.

Copyright is exactly what it says; The right to copy. Or more accurately, the right to restrict people from copying something without authorization.

DVRs are perfectly legal to use. According to the courts, using a recording device to time-shift programming is a perfectly legal activity. Allowing people to skip commercials in no way violates copyright. The DVR isn't making extra copies, distributing copies, or altering the copies. Therefore there is no copyright issue.

This is the equivalent of suing theaters that allow people to use the restroom while the ads are playing before the start of a movie.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK to 25139889

Premium Member

to 25139889
I don't see anywhere where the Hopper DVR is being offered to the public to use with their OTA shows.

No copyright issue. The show is recorded as transmitted. The user chooses to skip parts of it. No alterations or changes. No copyright issues.

RRedline
Rated R
Premium Member
join:2002-05-15
USA

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RRedline to Rekrul

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Rekul, I agree 100%! Advertising has gotten way too intrusive, and it has led to a large number of people getting fed up. I refuse to sit through all the commercials that they show on TV. They need to scale BACK the commercials and actually devote more of their airtime to the programming that people WANT to watch.

You forgot to mention how they will often overlap the ending credits one one show with the beginning of another show! But hey, at least that frees up time for one more car commercial that we all want to see AGAIN.
AndyDufresne
Premium Member
join:2010-10-30
Chanhassen, MN
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter ERPro8
Netgear R7000

AndyDufresne

Premium Member

Re: Idiots...

Good example of this was this past season of Walking Dead. They put so many commercials on during that program that I don't think anyone didn't use a DVR to watch and skip thru adds. then it was followed by Comic Book Men (Kevin Smith crap) that had barely any commercials.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

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Can I get an amen.