Techfun

NBC UNIVERSAL AND COX COMMUNICATIONS OFFER POPULAR PRIME TIME SHOWS FREE ON DEMAND:

As a part of the trial, the fast forward feature will be disabled for this content  so the viewing experience will be the same as the program’s primetime airing. The NBC programming will be available On Demand by simply choosing Channel 1 and selecting the MyPrimetime category.

Once again TV Network and Cable executives are hyping a new service that is a downgrade from currently available features.

 It wasn’t all that long ago that cable companies were telling us all that Digital Cable was going to open up the TV world to massive innovation and offer end users unprecedented freedom to watch TV the way they like best.  We have seen TV hardware that allow us to pause and rewind live TV.  Our DVR’s when combined with Digital TV service make recording our favorite programs so easy even a technophobe record their favorite shows.

DVR’s kick On Demand’s buttocks when it comes to ease of use and flexibility for the consumer.  Recording TV on a DVR is easy and offers the viewer far more opportunity to enjoy television on their own terms.  The fact that On Demand systems have the ability to disable features such as fast forwarding sucks.  Luckily, it’s easily avoided by just using your DVR to record shows that you want.

Free broadcast TV is one thing.  The commercials are the cost consumers pay to grab the signal and watch the shows.  As far as I am concerned, when I pay my cable bill, I am paying for the right to NOT watch the commercials on any channel, not just on  ‘pay stations’.  My bill is for more than just Showtime and Starz so they are all pay stations.  If the networks are not getting the money they need from the cable companies they need to work that out among themselves.

Time is something most people seem short of now.  For a cable company to decide to use technology to steal an extra twenty minutes from their customers for every hour of TV they watch is just mean spirited.  The time saved by watching recorded television should be a major selling point ofr DVRs.  Most cable companies that offer digital cable also offer DVRs.  We pay $9.95 a month to Comcast for a combination digital cable converter and DVR.  Based on my own idea of how much my time is worth, it pays for itself with just one episode of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader".  By skipping the commercials I watch the show in under 45 minutes.  That extra 15 minutes is time I can spend doing something else - including sleeping.  

The time saved by watching recorded television should be a major selling point for Tivo and other DVR makers.  One of the things I dislike most about TV is the enforced passivity that comes with watching broadcast TV or cable in real time.  Everytime I travel on business and try to watch TV in my hotel room I realize how lucky I am to have a DVR at home.  As much as I enjoy South Park and Family Gu, I enjoy them FAR more when I can skip commercials. 

Don’t let yourself think that fast forwarding through commercials is  a real victory for consumers of television.  An article released today on Adweek’s website says: 

The good news for advertisers is that people who watch TV on DVR actually watch commercials more raptly than ever before; the bad news is they do it 10 times faster. The commercial used to be an invitation to visit the bathroom or the refrigerator; now we monitor the ads with rapt attention to be sure we disengage the fast-forward in time. The cleverest advertisers have figured out how to make ads work at high speeds, like interstate billboards, but the real trick is to put something in front of viewers that will make them slam on the brakes.

 The rest of the article describes a phenomena that Brian has already been talking about.  The practice of embedding the advertising in the actual program, a throwback to the old days of single sponsor TV like the Carnation company’s involvement in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and Texaco’s sponsorship of The Texaco Star Theater.  I still don’t know how I feel about that.  I suspect that a balance will be found between the product advertised presence and the jarring dissonance introduced to the Tv viewing experience by a cut away to a real advertisement.

[EDIT] I had written this morning to both the NBC and Cox Cable contacts on the press release to ask if the new service would be in standard TV format, HDTV, or both.  NBC answered well after I had posted the original story.

Hi JD:
 
This will only be offered in standard definition (SD) TV format.  Thanks!
 
Rajul Mistry
Media Relations Publicist
NBC Universal TV Networks Distribution
900 Sylvan Ave.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
(P) 201-735-3591
(F) 201-735-3630