I was listening to Leo Laporte's radio show (The Tech Guy) today -- and he said something really interesting. He said a DVR company (subscription service like TiVO) is now basically out of business. They are out of business because they have been sued out of existence by "Hollywood."

You can read about the lawsuit(s) here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReplayTV#Legal_Battle
http://www.eff.org/cases/newmark-v-turner

Now here's the point -- pretty much everyone in America has a DVR -- So... HOW COME *THIS* DVR company (ReplayTV) is sued into oblivion?

Because this company DARED to add a little extra feature to its machine -- the ability to SKIP PAST commercials by clicking ONE BUTTON on the remote.

Uh-uh-UH!

NOT ALLOWED!

As I keep saying, in a capitalist society, the intended audience CANNOT BE *PERMITTED* to ignore the ads. (read the wiki article)

Maybe you might be "allowed" to fast forward THROUGH them -- maybe. But SKIP OVER THEM (completely) -- NO, no no!! Not permitted (even though accomplishing that, technologically-speaking, is quite EASY to accomplish).

When you watch tv, you are entering a pact. Yes, you can watch the shows "for free." But, if you do not *ALSO* buy the products on the commercials, the show goes away -- because that's where the $$ to pay for the shows comes from -- the VIEWERS -- i.e. YOU! (via the advertiser/sponsors)

There's nowhere else for the $$ to come from.

Hence the necessity for intrusive ads.

If the audience CAN ignore the ads, it WILL ignore the ads -- so that must be FORBIDDEN from happening -- no matter what "technology" may or may not make possible.

You VIL votch zee ads, unt you vil LUFF votching zee ads!

Cheers.

-- TW