Tivo Hysteria
Well aren't we all getting into a tizzy over nothing?
It seems that Tivo is going to extend its advertising a little further. Not only will there be star items on the menu, but when people are fast forwarding through commercials (no mention of the 30 second skip) they will see some form of "banner ad" which they can chose to click and get further information on.
For anyone paying attention this isn't radically different from the thumbs up that occasionally appear anyway during adverts. Its just a small and potentially non-intrusive extension of it. Why do I say potentially? Well I haven't seen the implementation yet (and neither has anyone else getting their panties in a bunch).
Suffice to say that I can think of at least a dozen ways to implement this without interfering in anyone's enjoyment of Tivo watching so lets not assume that they'll produce something so incredibly clunky that everyone immediately switches the Tivo off.
Major thumbs down to both Pvrblog and Tivoblog for their over-reaction to this issue.
Thumbs up to Tivo Community Forum ( or at least some members of it) for attempting to look at this realistically instead of creating a worst case scenario based on zero information.
Lets be clear about this. If Tivo stops me fast forwarding I'll have a problem. If Tivo breaks into my viewing to make me watch adverts I'll have a problem. If Tivo makes me click extra buttons to fast forward I'll have a problem.
If on the other hand they do no more than pop up a banner during an advert while I fast forward, without slowing me down and without requiring me to click anything… I have zero problem with that, and neither should any sane person.
This is a fuss about absolutely nothing.
Eoghann Irving is amongst other things the creator and Editor of Solar Flare. He has a life long interest in all forms of science fiction and fantasy and a pressing need to share this interest with anyone who will listen. Find out more at his personal website eoghann.com..| 2.9 |
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
The only problem is that TiVo seems to be adding these features without any concern for the consumer. I understand that they are trying to generate revenue however; this type of “feature” is not something that any normal consumer would say that want. Take for example the recent decision to allow for limitations on the amount of time you can keep your pay-per view programming. All I was trying to do on my site was let TiVo know that they need to keep the consumer in mind when they consider a new feature…
Nov 17th, 2004
My feeling is that Tivo is very well aware these aren’t features that consumers are looking for. But they need to stay in business or appealing to the consumer won’t do them a damn bit of good.
Its a matter of balance. And based on the information we have right now the new advertising while not really a plus for their customer, doesn’t hurt them either.
Tivo is running a business and it has to appeal to a lot of different markets, not just the customer sitting at home.
Nov 18th, 2004
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