ABC and Cox’s cable systems are rolling out a new video on demand service with free shows like Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. The shows will have shorter commercial breaks with local avails for ABC affiliates. But… it disables the fast-forward button during the commercial breaks. “This does counter the DVR,” said Anne Sweeney, the president of the Disney-ABC television group. “You don’t need TiVo if you have fast-forward-disabled video on demand. It gives you the same opportunity to catch up to your favorite shows.”
While I agree that a faster rollout of free VOD could’ve slowed but not stopped DVR growth, I have to say that the cat’s out of the bag. Sure, I would watch a fast-forward-disabled show on VOD if I wanted to A) sample it or B) my DVR screwed up the original recording. But to think this will “counter the DVR,” in my opinion, is not going to happen.
Update: Here are some details on how the ABC affiliates will participate
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Once again, Network Execs are completely delusional.
The audience for this product seems very limited.
The customer has to have a level of service that requires a STB, but not a DVR… or a DVR that is full or fails to catch the recording.
If they really wanted to counter DVRs, they’d repeat programming at different times on their Digital sub-channels. This service would be available to those with digital to analog OTA boxes, and cable systems where the FCC or carriage agreements have forced the sub-channels into the line-up. No extra monthly fee as a cost of entry.
How long do they think it will be before there’s a “hack” which downloads the video, detects the commercials and edits them out?
Anyone want to start a pool on this? My guess: 15 days