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indiantelevision.com's Media, Advertising & Marketing
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Television programmers and advertisers concerned over ad
skipping technology
(Posted on 13 May 2002 4:05 pm)
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American advertisers and their agencies have expressed concern
about the new Personal Video Recorder (PVR) technology that
allows a viewer to skip advertising with a click of a button.
This contravenes the practice of fast forwarding ads. They contend
ad skipping technology threatens the entire economic model upon
which television is based.
Turner Broadcasting chairman and CEO Jamie Kellner, whose company
is owned by AOL Time Warner, criticised devices that allow viewers
to strip advertising content from programming in real time.
He said that this amounted to breach of contract on the part
of a viewer.
AOL Time Warner jumped into the fray announcing that it will
not include a so-called "ad-skip" button in new set top boxes
that include (PVR) capability. Time Warner will be testing such
set-tops, manufactured by Scientific Atlanta, later this year.
The decision was taken at the NCTA annual convention which took
place in New Orleans last week. Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn
Britt said that America's No. 2 cable operator would seriously
consider copyright protection and other possible content issues
as it works on the design and implementation of set-top boxes.
He said he wants to avoid "crossing the line," which means the
MSO's set-tops will not make it easy for consumers to manipulate
content in ways that would breach copyright.
Walt Disney President and COO Robert Iger raised the possibility
of an increased likelihood of commercial skipping in video-on-demand
content. The most recent edition of the PVR Monitor by Memphis-based
NextResearch suggests cause for worry. The survey of 358 households
with at least one PVR showed that one in four PVR users always
fast-forward through commercials while just one in 10 says they
never fast forward; just over half said they fast forward sometimes.
Those who do watch are more likely to stick around when the
commercial is entertaining.
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