Customers of Cox Cable will soon be able to get the free Video On Demand feature from Disney’s television properties like ABC, ESPN, and The Disney Channel. The only catch is that the fast forward feature will be turned off. The goal is to ensure that viewers actually see the commercial spots that will help pay for the shows.
The Wall Street Journal Primetime Blog has more details. I’m kinda on the line myself. Since I use a DVR I typically don’t use the Video on Demand feature unless it’s offering original content or perhaps short segments that I wouldn’t have recorded otherwise. So I don’t see myself using it that often, but it would be nice to have if they offered something I didn’t record or couldn’t see otherwise (perhaps audio commentaries). Is this a product you would consider using?
I think it is a fair trade-off. Commercials pay for most of our programming so the networks need a method to allow people to get programming on demand and still keep advertisers happy. Sure, you can get around it by getting it on-Demand, letting your TIVO record it and THEN Fast forwarding, but really, commercials? Remember when we had to sit through every single one?
It isn’t THAT bad.
I would simply record it to DVD using my DVD recorder and fast forward through the commercials afterwards. But really why would anyone pay for Cable these days when you can get an HD Receiver and receive over 40 channels in most major metro areas over the airwaves for free and in quality that exceeds that of Cable.
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