Saving Time? Not if You're Time Warner
Like to save time and get more things done? This isn't what Time Warner wants you to think.
Another network is trying to eliminate the Fast Forward option with DVR's and trying to sue other companies to show paid ads to consumers. I can see if you are some company wanting to make commercials about "paid" endorsements, which I think if you need to pay someone who uses your product to promote it, it must not be that great.
I don't need to watch someone else tell me what they think, especially when you don't know if they use it, and are paid.
Maybe Time Warner will take a hit when you can't FF through the commercials and you will have to sit and wait and bring on the food. Yup, I will sue because I gained weight or maybe since I went in debt buying all the products you are throwing at me. You wonder why more people download movies and TV shows, they do want to get away from the commercial nonsense.
You can check out more of the post on the link at:
http://www.fiercecable.com/story/time-warner-cable-patents-method-disabling-fast-forward-function-dvrs/2012-06-19
"While Time Warner Cable has developed technology that could prevent subscribers from skipping ads in programs stored on a DVR, it's unlikely that it will disable trick modes any time soon. Disabling the fast-forward function on a DVR would likely spark a backlash from subscribers, and make it more difficult for Time Warner Cable to compete with DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and other multichannel providers that distribute DVRs that allow subscribers to skip commercials.
But Time Warner Cable has already begun to disable the fast-forward function in some of the digital cable products that it offers to subscribers, including its "Look Back" and "Start Over" features. The patent refers to Look Back, a service that allows Time Warner's digital cable subscribers that forget to record a program on a DVR to access the program within three days of its premiere date. The Look Back feature is available in programming from networks owned by Discovery Communications, A&E Networks, NBC Universal, Showtime and Food Network."
While they didn't do this yet, I can't stand they don't give you the option on the Lookback, it actually makes me shy away from using that since that doesn't give me any benefit or time savings, so it makes it worthless and makes you want to go on hulu.com, which you might get an ad or 2 for 30 seconds vs 3-5 minutes of garbage.
jbw
4:57 pm on Sunday, June 24, 2012
Back when I still watched TV years ago, most of the programming itself was filled with its own advertising anyway - either placement for various companys' goods and services or setup for the program's own merchandising. Just think of how much time and money you'll save without TV at all.
JustMe
4:58 pm on Sunday, June 24, 2012
That sucks!
Randy1949
10:14 am on Monday, June 25, 2012
I'm so old that I can remember a time when commercial advertising filled only four minutes out of every sixty. You'll notice that if you have old shows on DVD -- the full episode runs 56 minutes. What is it now? I couldn't begin to tell you. We seem to have more breaks than program.
Time-Warner, your customers pay handsomely for your cable service and for your DVR capabilities. Consider not killing the golden goose.
CowDung
10:30 am on Monday, June 25, 2012
It boggles the mind to think how expensive cable TV bills would be if the cable companies were to lose all their advertising revenue because nobody watches the commercials...
Randy1949
11:40 am on Monday, June 25, 2012
I watch commercials because I don't have DVR capability. Or I go do something else for that five minutes. But even without DVR, there's still the old-fashioned VCR with fast forward, so advertisers have no assurance their spots are being watched anyway.
CowDung
11:57 am on Monday, June 25, 2012
I imagine that the technology exists to track the number of views that a given commercial might be getting. A DVR (or cable box for that matter) can send all kinds of viewing habit information back to the 'mother ship'...
Steve ®
11:09 am on Monday, June 25, 2012
DirecTv 30 second skip button. Press it 6-7 times and you are back being a productive member of society.
Bren
11:24 am on Monday, June 25, 2012
I never watch first-run tv. Everything is DVRd because of my work schedule. If I couldn't blast through the ads (most of which do not pertain to my life) I would walk away from the TV entirely. Perhaps this is because during my childhood the television was banished to the unfinished part of the basement. Mother had ideas that people's minds were too susceptible to TV ads, especially children, and I do think she had a point.
I have ATT U-Verse. But the packages are set up so I would be paying double what I do now to have the few networks I actually want. That isn't happening.
Nicole
11:54 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Trick mode sounds like an extreme sports category – lol! I actually heard about this at work today from one of my co-workers at Dish in the tech department, but I refused to believe him. Why on Earth would Time Warner Cable want to eliminate the choice for their subscribers to skip over commercials? I wonder if they realize that they’re going to lose masses of subscribers to Dish if they go through with this. Dish’s Auto Hop feature is giving people what they want, and that’s the choice of an easier way to skip French-fry-flaunting commercials and other annoying ads. I knew I had it good with Dish, but now I know I’m getting the best for what I pay for.
Alol
1:05 am on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
All I want is WISN-12 returned to my basic cable lineup. I guess that's asking too much. To Bren and anyone else who has the ATT U-verse dish, how is that working out for you? Isn't having a dish a pain in the butt when the wind blows? I just think the dish would be less reliable, like I'd have to be out on the roof adjusting it to get a clear picture.
Nicole
4:56 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
@AWL, in all the years I’ve had Dish I’ve never had to go out onto my roof to adjust my satellite. I live in Colorado where it can snow quite a bit, and through snow and wind, I still get a great HD picture.