TV programmers first toyed with us by offering their premium TV shows on the Internet with only three to five minutes per hour of commercials -- half to three-quarters less than exists on
traditional TV.
Recently there have been rumblings of TV networks/programmers (now that we have been digitally hooked) wanting to raise Internet commercial load levels to where traditional
TV exists, around 10 minutes or more.
The good news? As traditional TV viewers, we could always (at least 40% of the country) fast-forward through those messages via our trusty DVR
machines.
But all this might change. A recent Federal Communications Commission ruling gave movie studios the ability to stop viewers from
time-shifting films on video-on-demand services.
Studios are now allowed to stop this practice -- via remotely changing
consumers' set-top box connections -- to prevent illegal copying of movies.
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Consumer-advocacy groups say this is a dangerous move, just a short step to allowing all TV content
owners this ability -- which has been technically possible for years.
The FCC has prohibited the use of so-called "selectable output control" technology, which encodes video
programming with a signal to remotely disable set-top box output connections -- because it breaches the privacy of consumer's in-home media activities and equipment.
But just as
Internet TV could soon have as many ads as the traditional kind, future TV activity could return to the old ages, pre-2000, when most of the TV viewing public couldn't fast-forward through
commercials.
According to the FCC, the change is in the consumer's best interest. It will reportedly give studios the ability to release movies faster into the market after their
theatrical release. Studios also say they can save marketing dollars -- by bridging a shorter time gap between theatrical and new digitally released windows.
This is fuzzy logic at best. We
all know movie studios and TV companies do what's the best interest of making the most money. What if the new earlier market doesn't develop? Will studios turn back on the time-shifting?
Media companies have been running scared they won't be able to figure out future entertainment habits of consumers with the growing number of new devices. So they are covering all angles.
TV marketers could be thrilled with this decision because it might set a precedent for other, more-marketing-favorable FCC actions.
But consumers might just change their behavior in
directions people least expect. Word of warning to the studios: Look what happen to the DVD market over the last couple of years. What if this decline hits other parts of the entertainment
business?