Would Satellite TV Providers Ditch Commercials?

from the interesting-battles... dept

With all this talk about the battles convergence creates, one potentially interesting one is whether or not pay TV providers would ever experiment with ripping out commercials from programs. Already, some "premium" channels come without commercials and satellite radio has tried the "commercial-free" game also. However, plenty of existing TV stations come with lots of commercials, leading to the possibility that a pay TV provider could, in theory, offer a DVR service that would get rid of commercials. That, at least, is the speculation after it was revealed that UK satellite TV provider BSkyB has received a patent for a DVR device that skips ads automatically or that can just record portions of shows (such as just recording a favorite band's appearance on a music video station). Of course, it seems a bit questionable as to how this is patentable. Commercial skip technology has been around for a while, and is hardly "non-obvious." Also, BSkyB responds in the article in a way suggesting they just got the patent to use it to charge anyone else who dared to offer such features, while having no plans to offer the feature themselves. Still, it does raise some interesting questions about whether or not part of the battle is going to come from pay TV providers (both cable and satellite) and the broadcasters. There have already been a few very public battles about how much certain channels cost to get included in a pay TV offering -- and it's not hard to see the cable and satellite providers eventually respond by threatening to cut out commercials to get some more leverage in the negotiations.
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  1. identicon
    VonSkippy, 3 Jan 2005 @ 12:16pm

    What a dumb company name

    StupidNameStupid. BSkyB shows that ALL good names/domain names are taken, and only dumbass names (like BSkyB) are left. Sad enough in itself, sadder still when you know they spent big money to some flaky marketing firm to come up with such a stupid moniker. Next time hire 12 monkeys with typewriters and see what pops up in a few days.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Steve Mueller, 3 Jan 2005 @ 9:37pm

    Good Luck

    However, plenty of existing TV stations come with lots of commercials, leading to the possibility that a pay TV provider could, in theory, offer a DVR service that would get rid of commercials.
    Good luck to BSkyB. Sonic Blue got sued by broadcasters in part because Replay TV allowed automatically skipping commercials. Not removing them, mind you, just skipping them. Removing them would just be more likely to get them sued.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Pete Austin, 4 Jan 2005 @ 3:14am

    Re: What a dumb company name

    BSkyB was formed when "British Satellite Broadcasting" (BSB) merged with "Sky". See:
    http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/bsb.html

    Under the circumstances, "BSkyB" doesn not seem such a bad choice for the formal company name.

    It is normally just called "Sky" for simplicity.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Norm, 4 Jan 2005 @ 3:28am

    Pay TV - Premium? Huh?

    The article reads "already, some "premium" channels come without commercials and satellite radio has tried the "commercial-free" game also..."

    My god! That's the whole point of Premium?

    If the damn things ever start putting out commercials, and I'm paying for those premium channels, I'm outa here!

    The "already" wording is confusing.

    In addition, NO ADVERTISEMENTS is the whole point of satellite radio -- both XM and Sirius. They have all those ad-free music channels.

    This article was not that well written.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Mike (profile), 4 Jan 2005 @ 9:14am

    Re: Pay TV - Premium? Huh?

    How is "already" confusing? It is true that many (though not all) premium channels come without commercials.

    It's also true that many, though not all, satellite radio channels come without advertising. It's not, as you imply, the "whole point" of satellite radio. In fact, one of the two (can't remember which one right now) launched with commercials on their stations, and only switched later on to commercial free programming.

    Both XM and Sirius have also suggested in the past that they would consider adding in commercials at a later date.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Ben M, 4 Jan 2005 @ 9:53am

    Sky pattents advert skipping...

    Surely the reason why they've done this is to STOP other's from doing it..?
    Sky can say "Arhhh, Mr Generic Box Maker from Taiwan, you can't add advert skipping to your new DTT/HDD box because we've already patented it!"
    10% advert revenue to Sky is indeed slight for Mr Murdoch. However, his Sky Digital proposition is about a large number of channels (albeit of crap quality), and those channels will fade away if their precious advertising revenue is threatened.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    thecaptain, 5 Jan 2005 @ 5:23am

    skip the problem altogether

    Just rent/buy DVDs of the whole seaons of your favorite shows.

    Watch 'em when you want, HOW you want and in whatever quantity/order you want. No commercials, no hassles, no cable fees...

    I'll never go back. Especially since new shows are 90% reality-tv dreck anyway

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2005 @ 9:56am

    Paying for commercials

    Neat !

    I can pay for an XM or Sirius receiver, a few hundred more in add ons, & monthly fee AND ...

    I get the privilege of listing to commercials too ?

    Oh please, sigh me up for this awesome offer ...

    My burned CD's @ about 50 cents ( one time only ) are commercial free too ...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
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    social work jobs with pregnant teenagers

    Great new site with teen sex lesbian blonde teens in the nude. Millions pics and movies teenagers and excessive kissing!

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