ABC wants to disable fast-forwarding on digital video recorders
Via BoingBoing:
ABC Looks Beyond Upfront To DVR, Commercial Ratings Issues (needs you to sign in – use username ‘wasteoftime’, password ‘wasteoftime’):
“ABC HAS HELD DISCUSSIONS ON the use of technology that would disable the fast-forward button on DVRs, according to ABC President of Advertising Sales Mike Shaw, with the primary goal to allow TV commercials to run as intended.
…
Shaw also threw cold water on the idea that neutering the fast-forward option would result in a consumer backlash. He suggested that consumers prefer DVRs for their ability to facilitate on-demand viewing and not ad-zapping–and consumers might warm to the idea that anytime viewing brings with it a tradeoff in the form of unavoidable commercial viewing.
“I’m not so sure that the whole issue really is one of commercial avoidance,” Shaw said. “It really is a matter of convenience–so you don’t miss your favorite show. And quite frankly, we’re just training a new generation of viewers to skip commercials because they can. I’m not sure that the driving reason to get a DVR in the first place is just to skip commercials. I don’t fundamentally believe that. People can understand in order to have convenience and on-demand (options), that you can’t skip commercials.“
It’s hardly worth commenting on this (without going off on a rant), except to note that maybe he should be talking to Philips…
[...] This seems a fairly sensible application of control within the design process, with the ‘feature deletion’ being done to fulfill socially beneficial intentions rather than purely commercial ones. The less energy devices use, the less money the customer spends on electricity, as well as reducing the environmental impact. [...]
[...] It is, of course, in no way ‘dumb design’, as the omission and obfuscation is entirely intentional: it is cunning design, frustrating a user’s attempts at exerting control by making it hard to leave. Just look at the efforts another high-profile name goes to for customer retention. It’s another feature deletion example, similar in spirit to, say, disabling the fast-forward button on PVRs. [...]
[...] A digital analogy might, perhaps, be forcing a viewer to sit through adverts before watching a movie (e.g. by removing the fast-forward function), or simply a software registration/payment nag-screen. The user is lured in (by offering an attractive smell, or the promise of entertainment, or access to a desired function) and only released/allowed to proceed once a ‘toll’ has been extracted (pollen transfer, or eyeball-time). [...]