Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

The manufacturer and owners of ReplayTV have been allowed by a federal judge to combine forces and display a unified case to the court.

Originally several major TV studios and movie networks sued SonicBlue, the manufacturer of ReplayTV. They claim skipping the commercials violates copyright and "fair use". So several consumers who own ReplayTV devices teamed up with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and have sued the networks and studios.

A recent ruling allows the EFF and SonicBlue to combine forces and combine the lawsuits. The networks and studios had wanted the EFF suit dismissed.

All of the flap is over skipping commercials? What a total bunch of malarkey for the networks and studios to pursue. Its bullshit. They are stating that there is an implied contract to WATCH the commercials, ludicrous. Fair use means that it can be taped and watched later, and YES, the commercials can be skipped. Duh. What do people with VCRs do? Do the fast forward the commercials, hell yes. What do people watching regular TV do? Do they SURF during the commercials, of get a bite to eat or take a crap? Hell yes?

And I have stated this before but I have another issue. I am relatively sure that all of the ReplayTV owners have CABLE TV or SATELLITE, etc. These people are already PAYING FOR the signal. To require them to also WATCH the commercials is crazy. Wasnt that the point of cable TV in the first place? Yeah, those days are long gone, remember when HBO had MOVIES and MTV had MUSIC VIDEOS!

Networks and studios are damn lucky they can GET AWAY WITH even putting the commercials on pay networks, once consumers pay for the signal they should demand that it is commercial free.

Dont get me wrong, I understand that revenues for most of programming, cable or not, come from advertising. I just dont necessarily think that it should even though I understand that it does (even if that means cable is more expensive, get me out of these "contracts" with these jackasses). I think the networks and studios should be happy that they can still get advertisers to PAY for advertisements and a few people to watch a few commercials once in a while on pay tv networks. If the networks and studios want people to watch commercials then they should concentrate on making commercials people WANT to watch (another rant entirely, but removing the REQUIREMENT to watch commercials and instead using commercials consumers CHOOSE to watch is worth mention).

I hope this action by the networks and studios results in a backlash by consumers. Imagine if the networks and studios win the suit. Imagine if a federal court declares it a violation of the contract to NOT watch the commercials. Taking a piss becomes illegal at halftime? How in the hell do they think they are going to enforce that? Kudos to ReplayTV for making a device that can auto skip the commercials and many thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation for fighting the good fight. Middle finger raised to the networks and studios.

For more see the linked news.com story AND JOIN THE EFF - MAKE A CONTRIBUTION, ITS 100% TAX DEDUCTIBLE!   Judge allows combination of suits in ReplayTV Case: news.com