A TV Collector's Catch 22 (rant)

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by SpaceAge

On demand is pretty much worthless because as you point out, they block you from fast forwarding.

I don't necessarily think on-demand video is "worthless", as you put it; it does have its uses, especially if you don't have a VCR or DVR. I have a Roku player (Roku 2) with On Demand, and it works well for me. It came in handy about a week ago, when I wanted to watch an episode of Chicago Med on NBC but missed it when it originally aired.

The inability to skip commercials with OD programming is a necessary evil, as the networks do not want viewers to ignore them (they are, after all, what keep the shows on the air). In fact, if they could do it and it were legal, I am almost certain the networks and local stations would find some way (via a special control signal in the vertical blanking interval, for example) to jam the mute function on TV remotes, forcing viewers to listen to the commercials as well as watch them.

Watching a program via OD is no different from standard TV--the commercials are still there, and the service forces viewers to tolerate them since, as you mentioned (there is almost always a disclaimer to this effect before an OD show begins), there is no way to get around them by using fast-forward, as you would with a VCR. The only way to deal with the commercials is to ignore them, as viewers have been doing for generations. I just press the mute button on my remote and look away from the screen, and unmute the sound when the program I'm watching resumes.

The only advantage OD offers is the ability to watch a certain program virtually any time after the program airs (shows are usually available for viewing OD for about a week or so, beginning the day after their initial showing on the network). The only way to completely skip the commercials is not to watch live TV (as VK member Wiscojim in Wisconsin mentioned in a recent post); tape your favorite shows and pause the tape when a commercial appears, or tape the entire show and fast-forward past the commercials.