TV Networks Say You're Breaking The Law When You Skip Commercials

Can someone explain to me why advertisements even exist? For me, whenever I see something being advertised I go out of my way to actually not buy it. Especially if it's something being advertised on the internet.

How do companies even keep track of how many people are actually watching the commercials anyhow? I mean hell, if they keep bombarding me with 15 minutes of ads every 9 minutes of showtime, I'm just not going to watch television anymore, wouldn't bother me in the least.

I'll use the internet up until the point that they completely commercialize it, then I'll go on to something else. Commercials make me sick with how stupid they think we all are. It's insulting and I won't watch them.

God.

What's old is new again it seems.

Anyone else remember the VCR's back in the 90's that included a little feature called.... "Commercial Skip"? It was an auto fast forward usually by 30, 60, 90 or, 120 sec increments. The Networks had no problem with it at the time. (*or at least they never caused a public stink over it).

I see no difference. If I pay for a cable subscription and record my shows, it's my call to edit out the commercials or skip over them. So long as no one is charged a fee for watching my recorded shows, no law is being broken.

A word to advertisers: Showing the same commercial a dozen times during an hour long show does nothing to endear me to your product. If anything, I will consciously avoid said product over the annoyance factor.

Originally posted by discordantone
I see no difference. If I pay for a cable subscription and record my shows, it's my call to edit out the commercials or skip over them. So long as no one is charged a fee for watching my recorded shows, no law is being broken.

Here is the distinction. It isn't you doing the editing, but rather Dish via their DVR. They are charging you a fee for the service as well.

On a side note, if you recorded a program, edited it, then re-broadcast it say on the web, even if for free, that would be a copyright breach as well.

reply to post by stumason


The OP got it wrong as the site, Electronic Frontier Foundation, actually states in its article "The suits against Dish are a response to the "Hopper" DVR and its "Auto Hop" feature, which automatically skips over commercials."

The requirement for the viewer to actively choose to skip commercials by pressing a button that jumps the program ahead by some set amount, such as 30 sec, means that it is still likely that the viewer will still see some of the commercials.

The EFF is an organization that regularly defends the rights of the public, primarily in court. An example of this is their involvement in such cases as Righthaven vs Democratic Underground and Righthaven vs Wolf

I really hate the commercials, but I guess it's a trade off for getting the programming, a lot like the ads on websites. Nothing's free and I'd rather that the people wanting to sell something pay for the programming than us having to pay for it through higher cable or satellite bills.

Then if every network charges 10 dollars, those networks that loose out from people not wanting to pay will go bankrupt. Is that not how a free market should work? They would lower their prices or go out of business which would be better in the long run, because it gives people freedom of choice, rather than subsidizing loosing networks.

Originally posted by vor78
reply to post by AndyMayhew

 

That's the thing people don't realize about ads. Without them, you'd be paying $10/month for *every* networkl, just like you currently do on the so-called premium cable networks like HBO.

I canceled my cable many years ago when the number of commercials became outrageous.
I was a paying them to pump their propaganda into my home, and they were getting paid also on the other end.
No Thanks.

There was nothing free in there that I was getting.
I was subsidizing failing networks when all I wanted was a couple commercial free channels.

Originally posted by fleabit

So why are they ONLY suing Dish Network and not Tivo or DirectTV?

Why people would complain baffles me though. They want everything free. Gimme gimme gimme. I have my ad-blocking in my browser turned OFF for sites I often visit. And for those I visit a lot, I actually occasionally click on the ads. It's how sites stay in business. That's the mindset of people these days though. Download all music and books illegally, skip all commercials, block all ads, and then get outraged if a show is cancelled because it's making no revenue. Greedy, greedy people.

It is just too stupid now. Everyone hates the amount of commercials put into most shows, and in most cases they are collectively longer than the content shown. Worse cases like SciFi, Discovery and History channel, well - the public is telling you straight out, cut them back, or we will find ways of dealing with it, which have happened.

It does not matter now, the cat is out of the bag. If they go after the outlet vendors for having such devices in their equipment, and win.. well just wait and see the aftermarket devices that will pop out of the woodwork, most of them manufactured overseas, that will provide the same feature. What is done here, is done forever unless the commercial rates go down to something reasonable.

reply to post by stumason


The rebroadcast I meant was in your own home or via streaming from one's own private server to a device(i.e.amongst friends) , not the world. Not that it matters because if I buy some content, whether legal or not, a backup will be made. If I record something, in most cases it will have adverts edited out then be added to my library for enjoyment at a later date.

I guess it boils down to the reality of the situation. People do this and will continue to. Nothing will change that. Nothing. They are just giving the people what they want. To say subscribers pay to watch advertisements is ludicrous. People pay for content. If we pay for content, and by definition, a commercial break is not show content, then we can choose to skip them.

Originally posted by PhysicsAdept
reply to post by Daedal

 

The funny thing is, when you paid for cable it used to mean you were paying to avoid commercials think about the evolution of things since that...

No, this is NOT true. Cable tv was invented in 1948 to bring tv channels into areas that could not otherwise get tv channels. Read up on the history of CATV by going to sectv.com (Service Electric Cable TV) and checking out the history page. The owner of that system invented cable tv in 1948. Cable companies do NOT add commercials to any shows, however, they do put their own local commercials in, IN PLACE of, not in addition to, network commercials. Cable tv (or any other delivery service as far as I know) does NOT add commercials, the channel is picked up from the source (satellite or fiber optics), then sent out on the cable plant with no content added, other than local commercial insertion, which usually goes every 15 minutes or half hour, REPLACING the commercials being sent by the broadcaster.

Commercial free television came about in 1973 with HBO, which was a pay service. Again, Service Electric Cable tv was the first cable company to offer HBO. Pay tv is an entirely different animal though, and not relevant to this thread.

snrRog

I can't watch ANYTHING on TV nowadays unless I record it first, and FF through the commercials....

I think the abundance of commercials are the cause of A.D.D.! (At least it is in MY case)..

I have gotten to where I'm so easily distracted that I can't concentrate on any given thing for more than about 5 minutes.

It really sucks when I'm fixing my lunch in the morning, and some random thought crosses my mind, and I'll drop what I'm doing to tend to that and have to come back to what I was doing before...


Thank goodness for The Anime Network!

I don't have cable and don't miss it! It was a waste of money and I never really watched it. There were a few shows I'd DVR but even those shows were available online for free via the network or other sites like Hulu and Netflix or even Amazon. I didn't care if I didn't get to see the show that night, it was always available in full format the next day.

I really like what Amazon does for TV shows, you can purchase episodes for $1.99 and they are available the next day after they air. I watched the first three seasons of Fringe via Netflix and then I purchased the entire 4th season online. It was $44 bucks for the entire season and for me it was totally worth it. I would much rather pay "a la carte" like that for shows I want to watch VS cable and having hundreds of useless channels for a ridiculous amount every month. I

I am a HUGE fan of Netflix and I don't mind paying $23 a month for both online streaming and 2 DVDs a month. I get NO commercials and if there is any problem they are on it ASAP! They are open 24hrs for customer service and their reps are always polite and friendly! I have had a couple scratched discs and they immediately send me a new one the next day! It's great! I NEVER got that kind of service with cable. I would get charged for PPV movies where it told me it was unavailable and it would be an argument to get the charges off the bill. Cable imo is a thing of the past and many people my age are getting rid of it to view TV and movies online via streaming.

At the end of the month I pay less than I did for cable and I get more of what I like and no commercials!

I'm betting that 99.9% of the people who produce commercials, skip the commercials when they're watching TV at home.

I used to mute commercials (still do when I actually watch live TV). Then I had Cable used to pay for it to not have commercials. Then they started on every channel I PAID FOR!

Took years for me to break free but I dumped Cable! SO LONG JERKS Tired of paying for some mediocre entrainment! Advertising does not work so...what will Advertisers do? PUSH HARDER TO CRAM THAT CRAP DOWN YOUR THROAT! Yep doesn't work? Oh lets do a panel see what songs stick in peoples heads, then research how fast to flash an image to make it stick in their brains...Most money a products spends in advertising is spent in R&D to get into your house especially if there is ZERO need!

Throw out cable. HELL THROW OUT YOUR TELEVISION TOO! But mark my words they will be here on a computer or on your Kindle too hehe

I guess running Ad Block on your web browser is illegal too according these morons.

It beats me how they can edit all the channels such that they have ads on every one of them at the same time.

Whenever an ad comes on I switch to something else or turn on my laptop.

And I make a point of not buying anything that is advertised anyway.

My recorder tapes via usb and has a button that is for missing adverts on it, even says in the handbook. Can set it for 3 mins up to 6 mins, has come in handy many a time.....

reply to post by Daedal


Here's what I say, "Click! I just turned off the TV, so sue me for not watching a commercial that you've spent over a thousand dollars on!"

I don't watch TV, I don't like watching commercials, and I don't like lies (also known as The News)

you people need to really stop watching tv anyway. it's mind control1!!!

So if I dont watch the adverts.
I break the law?

No more going to toilet at the adverts!

has any one read the book, Solaris - Lem Stanislaw - 1961?
in it some one goes through just this same thing.

and he advertises the Box on TV (in the book).
they try to stop him and lose.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
TV programs are made to get people to watch commercials. The only reason TV programs exist in the first place Is to make money either off subscription or advertising. If you skip its like sneaking into a movie without paying i guess. I know most people think they just have the right to watch TV how they want because its there all the time but i can understand why the owners of the stations dont see it that way. Without adverting revenue then there will be no TV to watch as no company is going to pay for advertising space if some piece of tech is going to allow people to not see their adds.

Without good advertising revenue who is going to pay for the programs and the equipment to beam them out plus the wages of the people managing the whole thing?

I stopped watching TV a long time ago, i dont even own a TV

edit on 26-5-2012 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)

What they should do is just allow people to pay for the shows they like directly to the show's producers. That way there could be no commercials, and the studio would still get paid. You could "subscribe" to your favorite shows.