Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Thomas Beckett <thomas AT tbeckett.com>]

David R.Matusiak wrote:
> i knew i had seen this and i thought it came from this list.  had been  
> pruned from my saved messages tree, but wonderful google found it in an  
> instant:
>
> http://www.google.com/ 
> search?q=certain+amount+tolerance&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF- 
> 8&safe=off&edition=us&sa=N&tab=nw
>
> or more simply:
>
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/internetworkers/2002-June/005817.html
> --
> (quote)
> > In an interview with [INSIDE] Magazine, Turner Broadcasting CEO Jamie  
> Kellner
> voiced this opinion on the issue: "[T]he ad skips . . .. It's theft.  Your
> contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to  
> watch the
> spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis.  
> Any time
> you skip a commercial or watch the button you're actually stealing the
> programming."

That is utter bullshit.  Television signals are broadcast far and wide 
and are available for anyone to watch or listen or turn their television 
off completely.  Cable TV signals are paid for by the recipient.

Advertisers pay to get carried along with either kind of signal.  They 
take the risk that the program they pay to "sponsor" is going to be 
watched or not, will be a huge success or a dud, that the audience will 
continue to watch between program segments or channel surf instead, or 
will just shut the idiot box off and go to bed.  Advertisers assume that 
risk when they pay their money.  Advertisers are aware of this and are 
continually seeking ways to make the advertising more interesting so 
that viewers won't just change the channel or go to the bethroom. 
Advertising is not a cost that audiences have to "pay" to watch the 
programming.

Save this for talking points for the next time you hear such garbage 
uttered by a TV executive or some nitwit in a bar.

TaB