USA TODAY Column: Last week, Disney, which owns ABC, made a dealwith Dish Network, the satellite provider, that, for the first time, will formally allow the use of technology to let viewers skip ads on ABC shows. The fig leaf compromise here is that Dish, which will now stream ABC shows over the Web, will have to wait three days after first broadcast before letting its ad-skipper, AutoHop, go to work. But it’s a big breach in an up-to-now implacable network wall. Finally, a major network has bent to the obvious — people expect to be able to skip ads.
In this, Disney breaks with NBC and CBS and Fox, which continue to sue Dish over AutoHop. Disney, which, because of its theme parks, is significantly less dependent on ad revenue than the other networks and their parent companies, has always been the company that the others feared would break ranks and invite the deluge…
This creeping development has been one of the underlying themes of modern American media and cultural life. Once upon a time, all video in the home, save for public television, was ad-supported — even most ticket-supported movies were designed for ultimate television consumption and advertising payoff. Then came the VCR, premium pay television, DVDs, piracy, DVRs, streaming. Suddenly, a sizable part of video consumption was ad free. What’s more, cable, by providing a revenue stream hooked to subscriber payments, started to wean content makers and distributors, in addition to audiences, off of advertising… (more)
