TiVo Is No Longer Skipping Past Advertisers

Posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 by MegaZone

The name that redefined how viewers watch television aims to reinvent commercials.

You know, I don’t think this is a big deal. Actually, I think this is good – so pop-ups while FFW, big deal. 1. I use 30 second skip. 2. People who FFW can still do it.

I think the ‘couch commerce’ thing is great – I’ve been suggesting that to TiVo (as an RFE) for years.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • emarosan

    Yeah, this is absolutely no big deal. I was worried for nothing.

    Blah for bloggers making a big deal out of nothing.

  • yakko7178

    Tivo’s been a good citizen for the 4 years I’ve been a customer, I give them the benefit of the doubt until I have reason not to.

  • axey

    As long as the ‘billboards’ aren’t coming up during the programming, I could care less. If they start popping up in the middle of my show, that’s annoying.

  • jccohen

    I suppose I should know… but 30 second skip? What’s that?

  • megazone

    Enter ‘Select Play Select 3 0 Select’ while watching a recording. Now the ‘Advance’ button (aka skip to tick, looks like ‘->|’) jumps ahead 30 seconds at a time. Do it again to turn it off. Reboots also turn it off.

    The only unit I know it doesn’t work on is the Toshiba SD-H400.

  • jccohen

    Way cool. Thanks for telling me!

  • agrajag

    Don’t you end up missing the first few seconds after a commercial if you do that?

  • bryant

    Not if you then hit the “skip back” button.

  • mangler103

    Don’t they already do this with some TV show commercials? Like when you get a thumbs up sign if you want to record it? I barely notice those, as long as I can see the action on screen so I know when to play, I’ve got no problems. Whatever keeps the company strong.

  • bryant

    I’ll go with “worrisome trend,” thanks. In and of itself, no big deal. In conjunction with “we won’t let you keep content from PPVs forever,” I start to worry.

    If you’re making money from the blipverts, and your advertisers say “hey, you know, this isn’t as valuable to us if the skip 30 code keeps working,” will you resist the pressure? I’m worried.

  • irihs

    Cool! I’m sure I will be able to ignore these as successfully as I ignore all the yellow starts that don’t have movie trailers for me. :)

    My only worry is that they will make them so they cover the entire screen, making it impossible to know when to stop FFing through the commercials. But it sounds like that’s not what’s happening, so I’m fine with it. And if this at all mitigates the growing trend of annoying and loud popups that networks insert at the bottom of the screen, I’m all for it!

  • irihs

    “yellow stars,” even! ;)

  • deltabob

    Heck, I almost always FFW the commercials, but if something catches my eye that I want to look at, I stop and go back to it.
    I think the pop ups could be ok, but I’ll wait to see how they are implemented.

  • megazone

    After you use it for a while you get pretty adept at hitting it a few times, and then trickplay to jump back. If you watch the same networks and shows a lot you tend to develop a subconcious idea of how long the breaks are. I find I can get through breaks fasted by jumping forward several times and then back once or twice than I can with FF.

    Some people like FF better. I guess it is just a matter of personal preference.

  • jccohen

    Okay, its great… but on the off chance the wife don’t like it, how do I turn it off?

  • megazone

    “Do it again to turn it off.”