Commentary

TV Technology Bites Back

Entertainment technology has a funny way of leading the TV tiger--and trailing it at the same time. With DVRs, it has become a case of purr--then bite.

DVR technology lets us fast-forward through commercials on regular TV. But other technology-streaming video on the Internet, isn't so accommodating. Networks are in the business of making money--and more often than not--they do it by selling messages from companies that make cell phones, beer and skimpy lingerie more appealing. Why? We like free stuff--or at least the appearance of freebies.

Walt Disney Co. chief financial officer Tom Staggs says this part of his business--specifically, the ABC ad market--is looking up. Better still, he notes that viewers on some of ABC's video platforms really watch those beer ads.

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He brags that 87 percent of viewers who downloaded shows at ABC.com correctly recalled the sponsors--double that of recalled commercials aired on TV.

You can't fast-forward through those online ads--and if logic serves me--Internet users don't really have TV remote controls to change the channels. Sure, they have keyboards and touch-pads and can click away, but the bulk of these newbie Internet users are doing what entertainment consumers have always done. They wait until your friendly, or big bad, entertainment company gets done with whatever business they need to compete.

Can't some technology company make some killer app that would fast-forward users through a Home Depot ad on "Desperate Housewives" on ABC.com? No doubt it already exists.

What about the opposite? What if ABC sends out its traditional TV signal for "Desperate Housewives"--and you can't fast-forward through commercials when watching through your DVR--but can still shuttle back and forth in program content?

We could disengage some functions on the DVR. This has always been possible --and major media companies have been mulling this for some time. Why hasn't anyone done it? There would be major consumer backlash--and perhaps a lawsuit. TV consumers have bought DVRs because they have this function.

Isn't it better for media companies to do this now, when DVR penetration is only 10 percent or so, instead of pissing off 75 percent of their customers in a few years?

Is their bark bigger than their bite? Only time and their dentist know for sure.

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