There are going to be major sideeffects of PVRs.

If there are going to be tens of millions of PVRs in the US, then eventually the tv shows themselves will become almost like infomercials. You think Survivor is bad, wait till there are tens of millions of PVRs in the US, they will squeeze so many commericals(some of them hidden some obvious) inside the tv shows that it will make your head spin.
They will also have commerical logos during the shows. Like for example they'll have like a Coke logo and a Mcdonalds logo and other stuff on the screen all during the show.
They'll eventually have so many logos that they'll have to squeeze the picture to smaller and smaller sizes and make it a picture in picture to fit all the logos on the screen. They will also do what Survivor does to basically show commercials inside the show but on a much larger scale.

[Rick_EE]

We may be headed in the direction of commercials like those in "The Truman Show"

[Mark Holtz]

On some of the non-US channels, they are using technology to insert logos and such into the backgrounds of various programs. UPN was doing this for a few months a year or so ago.

[Karl Foster]

Just as the technology changes, advertising must change as well. A small price to pay for the convenience of a PVR.

I hope the KINGS reign supreme!!!!

[RichW]

Product placement within a movie or TV episode is not nearly as bad as breaking up the story every 12-15 minutes with 10 commercials. I was watching "Dangerous Minds" last night on KWGN and the last part of the movie almost became unwatchable due to the frequency and length of commerical breaks.

[tampa8]

Not only do I think this is a valid observation, but NBC is sort of doing this now. At the end of many programs the final scenes are squeezed to the side while they run the credits and show what is coming up next or what is going to be on the "Tonight Show."

If (A big "If") this method was used instead of commercial breaks or used to cut down on breaks, it might not be all bad. Perhaps a "Picture in picture" approach would work. I agree as technology progresses the industry will have to follow.

[The Tophinator]

It would be interesting to watch sporting events like this. Imagine cars racing about 150 miles per hour with advertising plastered all over the hoods, doors and just about everywhere else. Oh yea, that's NASCAR! :)

[AllieVi]

Originally posted by Henry
If there are going to be tens of millions of PVRs in the US, then eventually the tv shows themselves will become almost like infomercials.
The "commercial-in-the-show" approach might make sense for the initial airing of a program, but that means it's there for all time. I have to wonder how such an approach would affect the syndication market for those shows. Advertising would then be limited to the original sponsors, who may not choose to pay again.

[RichW]

Toph,

I surfed past the movie "Driven" the other day. It was one big product placement movie itself. Since I used to work for Motorola, it was kinda nice to see the old "bat-wings" so prominant in the movie. I only watched for about 15-minutes, but was amazed at all the company logos on cars and jackets that got tight closup shots.

[The Tophinator]

Iv'e been a NASCAR fan for years. The sponsors pay big money for product placement on their cars. The fans are also known to be very loyal to the companies that advertise with NASCAR. Especialy if their favorite driver is sponsored by the company. Then there is millions more spent on the souvineers. There are even companies that review each race and give the sponsors detailed accounts of how many milliseconds their add was placed on camera. It's not the tobacco chewin' moonshine running sport your grandpappy used to watch. The unfortunate thing is there is still way too much "regular" commercial time durring a race.

[cnsf]

I think the mark may be missed here. Viewers will just drift from commercial TV to the subscription-based channels that provide excellent programming (e.g. Sopranos, Six Feet Under, SITC, etc.) sans-commercials and continue to use their PVRs.

The major broadcasters will just have to reevaluate their business models.