Just when one thought it was bad enough to try and introduce a bill to criminalise the skipping of commercials, apparently Microsoft has filed a patent where a user's subscription or rental fee on viewing content can be based on the user's viewing habits. For example, this would allow users to be charged fees for fast forwarding through or otherwise skipping over the commercials on TV, whether it is a recording on DVD, video-on-demand service or even a programme on TV/Cable/Satellite. On the other hand, the patent covers the rewarding of discounts for watching commercial advertising. If you copy, please show appreciation by linking back to CDFreaks.
As advertisers are losing interest in delivering paid advertising to users just for them to skip over the ads, Microsoft's patent aims to solve this issue for media content providers by charging users based on their viewing habits, such as to penalise those who skip all the commercials or to reward those who watch them all. For example, this approach would essentially allow advertisers to only be charged for ads that are actually rendered. Microsoft's patent covers content on devices such as PVR's, DVDs video-on-demand set-top boxes, PCs, TV/Satellite/Cable recording devices or other equipment where users can skip over content. Thanks to drpino for using our news submit to let us know about the following news:
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"Accordingly, media content providers need to provide alternate advertisement revenue models so that advertisers will continue to sponsor advertising messages being delivered with media content for consumer viewing." So the solution, according to Microsoft's patent application, is to charge people when they skip these commercials and possibly charge them less in monthly fees when they do watch the advertisements. The full text patent can be viewed here. |
If content providers start making use of this patent,the worst affected will be those who insist on skipping all commercials as this would mean having to pay the full price. As consumers don't pay for terrestrial TV in the US, then if these content providers take on this technology, it will be interesting to see how they will go about charging consumers for skipping over their commercials, especially since their programmes are mostly paid for through advertising. Please link back to CDFreaks if you copy this, thanks.
For pay-per-view content such as sporting events and movies, chances are that content providers will charge a higher fee for their content and then offer rebates based on how many commercials the user has watched during the programmes. I would not be keen on seeing DVDs take this on as it would mean having to purchase a new DVD player to support the user's viewing habits or otherwise be excluded from discounts.
drpino wrote: is this the future of PVR?
Source: PVR Wire
