Unbecoming Levity :: Watch Our Commercials, Or Else!

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Watch Our Commercials, Or Else!

by Abacquer on Sat 30 Jul 2005 11:00 AM EDT | Permanent Link | Cosmos

And now in the truth is weirder than fiction department, the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan has become very concerned with the advent of hard-drive-enabled DVD recorders which allow viewers to skip commercial breaks with ease on playback. Their take on it? It's against the law to skip commercials...

From the Kyodo News article FOCUS: TV commercials may lose their value (via Yahoo Asia News):

..."Skipping the commercials would amount to a violation of the Copyright Law," said Hisashi Hieda, president of the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan...

I'm sorry what did you say? I was in the kitchen getting a snack.

Apparently these guys think the commercials and the show they are part of are one product. I don't get it. I can buy the latest Harry Potter book and cross out the word "Hogwarts" wherever it appears and read it over and over to my heart's content. I certainly haven't violated copyright. Sounds to me what they are really saying is recording the show and watching it later violates copyright. Mm-hmmm. Good luck with that.

Obviously sensing that this is not going to fly the association is naming August 28 "TV Commercial Day" to make the public aware of the many and varied benefits of TV commercials. John Borland sums it up nicely on Media Blog:

...I've got a short list for them: they make great bathroom breaks and exercise periods (even if it's just a walk to the fridge), and it's the best time to make popcorn in the kitchen?

Amen to that!

Posted to:

Comments

Re: Watch Our Commercials, ...

by JPB on Sat 30 Jul 2005 01:10 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Did you see this story on the 10th planet? CHeck it out when you get less busy:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7763

Cool!

Re: Watch Our Commercials, ...

by JPB on Sat 30 Jul 2005 01:18 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

By the way, this commercial story is ridiculous and amusing, except for the fact that it appears to be true. Which is annoying.

Re: Watch Our Commercials, ...

by briwei on Tue 02 Aug 2005 02:41 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

This isn't new. The big networks over here tried that one a while back when they grew worried about TiVo allowing people to skip commercials. They used similarly stupid reasoning.

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