Invention: The TV-advertisement enforcer

[Brownian Motion]

Invention: The TV-advert enforcer

* 17:49 18 April 2006

* NewScientist.com news service

* Barry Fox

C

If a new idea from Philips catches on, the company may not be very popular with TV viewers. The company's labs in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, has been cooking up a way to stop people changing channels to avoid adverts or fast forwarding through ads they have recorded along with their target programme.

The secret, according to a new patent filing, is to take advantage of Multimedia Home Platform - the technology behind interactive television in many countries around the world. MHP software now comes built into most modern digital TV receivers and recorders. It looks for digital flags buried in a broadcast, and displays messages on screen that let the viewer call up extra features, such as additional footage or information about a programme.

Philips suggests adding flags to commercial breaks to stop a viewer from changing channels until the adverts are over. The flags could also be recognised by digital video recorders, which would then disable the fast forward control while the ads are playing.

Philips' patent acknowledges that this may be "greatly resented by viewers" who could initially think their equipment has gone wrong. So it suggests the new system could throw up a warning on screen when it is enforcing advert viewing. The patent also suggests that the system could offer viewers the chance to pay a fee interactively to go back to skipping adverts.

Read the full patent here.

[ghost of miles]

One more reason for me not to watch the damn tube!

So it would basically be similar to what you encounter now at the beginning of most DVDs, when you're not allowed to skip to the menu.

Edited April 19, 2006 by ghost of miles

[RDK]

This has been a growing problem for the networks since the rise of Tivo and commercial-zapping VCRs. And it's hard to blame them for being upset and wanting to curtail it. The commercials pay for the (to us) free programming, and by watching "free" TV we enter into a tacit agreement to at least suffer through (if not actually watch) the paid advertisements. So one can, in a way, consider it "stealing" when one skips over the commercials.

That said, i do it all the time...

[Mr. Gone]

Read the full patent here.

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser...=DN/20060070095

Good luck Philips

[Jim Alfredson]

This has been a growing problem for the networks since the rise of Tivo and commercial-zapping VCRs. And it's hard to blame them for being upset and wanting to curtail it. The commercials pay for the (to us) free programming, and by watching "free" TV we enter into a tacit agreement to at least suffer through (if not actually watch) the paid advertisements. So one can, in a way, consider it "stealing" when one skips over the commercials.

That said, i do it all the time...

Yeah, but how many people in the US watch "free" TV now? Aren't we all paying for cable or satellite these days?

[Quincy]

Yeah, but how many people in the US watch "free" TV now? Aren't we all paying for cable or satellite these days?

Nope. I'm the last person on earth who hasn't gotten cable or a dish. Unless perhaps there's a small tribe of others out there... I just refuse to pay for it. I do rent the HBO shows on DVD, but otherwise, even though I'm a sports fan, to hell with it.

[ghost of miles]

This has been a growing problem for the networks since the rise of Tivo and commercial-zapping VCRs. And it's hard to blame them for being upset and wanting to curtail it. The commercials pay for the (to us) free programming, and by watching "free" TV we enter into a tacit agreement to at least suffer through (if not actually watch) the paid advertisements. So one can, in a way, consider it "stealing" when one skips over the commercials.

That said, i do it all the time...

Yeah, but how many people in the US watch "free" TV now? Aren't we all paying for cable or satellite these days?

I was wondering the same thing. Is there some sort of secret free TV that we don't know about? :bwallace2:

[Jim Alfredson]

Yeah, but how many people in the US watch "free" TV now? Aren't we all paying for cable or satellite these days?

Nope. I'm the last person on earth who hasn't gotten cable or a dish. Unless perhaps there's a small tribe of others out there... I just refuse to pay for it. I do rent the HBO shows on DVD, but otherwise, even though I'm a sports fan, to hell with it.

The only reason I have cable is for the cable modem. And Pistons games. I don't know why it's taking the industry so long to do ala carte TV, were you can just pick and pay for the channels you want. Why do I pay for Fox News, the Golf Channel, and three channels of home shopping!?

[Quincy]

The only reason I have cable is for the cable modem.

If I switched from dsl to a cable modem, I'd then go ahead & get cable tv. But that probably won't happen unless they slash prices on the cable side.

And Pistons games.

That's a team worth paying for! We get a few Blazer games for free, and I'm not sure they're worth that.

I don't know why it's taking the industry so long to do ala carte TV, where you can just pick and pay for the channels you want. Why do I pay for Fox News, the Golf Channel, and three channels of home shopping!?

Amen! If they had ala carte I would hooked on long ago. Instead I spend the money on CDs. Not a bad trade.

[Dan Gould]

I don't know why it's taking the industry so long to do ala carte TV, were you can just pick and pay for the channels you want. Why do I pay for Fox News, the Golf Channel, and three channels of home shopping!?

Because certain networks know that if they weren't part of a Basic or Basic + package, they'd never survive on their own with people actually choosing to pay for their programming.

There will never be ala carte cable or satellite service, no matter how much sense it may make to consumers.