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5/20/2012

The Hopper


Have you heard - are you aware - of the shitstorm that Dish Network has created with their new product - The Hopper?

It seems that the Networks and Advertisers are concerned their model may be crumbling - and they don't like it.

With "The Hopper", advertisements are automatically eliminated from recorded TV shows without intervention on the part of the viewer.  So far, there seems to be no relief for the Networks or the Advertisers - and there's no way, now, to actually count the number of faces sitting in front of this, that or the other commercial.  And, therefore, no way to actually bill for those faces.  And given that most everything in this country is driven by money and advertising, it is all threatened now.

Nice, huh?

Ndinombethe.

3 comments:

Big Mark 243 said...

It was only a matter of time. Unless commercials are woven into the fabric of the programming itself, the viewer won't ever need to watch it. But it may bring about Tele-screens and other such nonsense that simply shows commercials everywhere like in the Blade Runner book and movie.

Holly said...

It's interesting. A month or so ago, my hubs and I discussed why shows just couldn't go direct to the consumer and avoid cable networks. He has Netflix and watches a lot of commercial-free movies and TV shows on his Nook.

And then a couple weeks ago, a woman at the conference I attended said the TV show Community was failing because most of its viewers preferred watching online, on their own time, rather than at the scheduled slot live on TV. She mentioned networks haven't figured out how to count those eyeballs too.

And that led into a whole discussion of how big vlogs and webisodes are and will be....

Say, Lou, you could vlog! :)

erock said...

It seems it’s time for the multi-billion dollar Ad industry to change their tactics, because I don't see this "commercial-free" concept waning anytime soon. I have Dish and LOVE the new Auto-hop feature. I can get my 60 minute shows done in about 40 mins., and I don't have to constantly fast forward through my Prime Time recordings anymore. I asked my boss at Dish if there would be a major backlash, and he said there would most likely be some sort of push back from the Ad companies; he also offered, however, the idea that most DVR users fast forward through the commercials anyhow, and since this feature just hides the commercials, but doesn’t eliminate them, it shouldn't be that big a deal. I like it, and will continue to use it as long as possible!