TiVo responds to the ads-while-fast-forwarding controversy

TiVo has responded, at least sort of, to the brewing controversy over their
plans to introduce banner ads when people fast forward through commercials, with someone from TiVo's marketing department posting a message on the tivocommunity.com bulletin board trying to explain a little bit more what's going on. A few people didn't seem to get that they're not eliminating fast-forwarding altogether (but it's the Internet, what do you expect?), and the marketing person wants to make it clear that the ads will not be full-screen and that they'll be similar to the "thumbs-up" you sometimes see during commercials right now that'll ask you whether you want to record a TV show. Honestly, it's not that the whole idea of ads that seem so bothersome, it's more the idea of buying something, paying a monthly fee for it, and still having to deal with them popping in commercials everywhere (eliminate the monthly fees and we'd be a lot more receptive the ads). It's like if we started having to listen to a little ad everytime we wanted to check the voicemail on our cellphone—it'd be one thing if they were giving away the service for free, but we're paying for this, you know? Plus,
given how many other options there out there for digital video recorders, we worry that TiVo, a company we actually like, is only going to hasten its demise with moves like these.

[Via Werblog]