[vdr] Re: PVR users are thieves

[Emil Naepflein <Emil.Naepflein@philosys.de>]

On Thu, 2 May 2002 13:33:47 +0200, Andreas Roedl <flood@flood-net.de>
wrote:

> 
> It was bound to happen - 2600.com is reporting that Turner Broadcasting CEO 
> Jamie Kellner is calling PVR users thieves. When asked why personal video 
> recorders are bad for the industry, Keller says 'Because of the ad skips.... 
> It's theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're 
> going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an 
> ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you're 
> actually stealing the programming.' 

And you are a thieve if you go to the toilet, get some food, zap, ...
during a break. It took very long that the broadcasting industry
realized that PVRs are dangerous for their current business. The user
now has the ability to to make his own program schedule which only
contains that content he is interested in. The broadcasters will be
reduced to either pure content providers in the future or have to
prevent *any* recording by the user. If I read that above it seems to be
that they want to go the second way instead of thinking about new
innovative ways to provide the content and generate revenue. 

I doubt that calling customers thieves works out positively in the
future. I think the whole broadcasting industry will change drastically
over the next 5-10 years, and advertising during breaks will be dead in
the long-term. 

Emil

PS: This is probably off-topic in this mailing list but I had to
    write my opinion after reading this b******t. ;-)