UGN Security
TiVo Inc. on Monday introduced a feature that lets television viewers send personal information directly to advertisers when they see certain commercials, a move designed to open up TiVo's technology to more markets.

The move underscores advertising's importance to the future of TiVo, which comes only a few years after its introduction sent a chill through the ad sector with technology that let TV watchers skip over ads.

TiVo will now give advertisers direct access to viewers who are interested in their wares. The digital video recorder (DVR) maker said the upgrade lets some 1 million of its Series 2 stand-alone subscribers instantly respond to specially encoded advertising.

However, TiVo says the changes will not affect the way users normally view shows and skip ads, and will not force them to watch any ads they choose to ignore.

Under the new system, consumers can select an option to tell TiVo to release their contact information to an advertiser. For example, after watching an ad for an automobile or family vacation, users can use the remote control to request a brochure be sent to their home.

"Advertising is a substantial growth area," said Kimber Sterling, director of advertising and research sales at TiVo. "It is not a material revenue for us yet, relative to our overall revenue picture."

Advertising is the key to TiVo's distribution agreement, announced earlier this year, with Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable television provider. TiVo is set to deploy its ad platform on Comcast's existing DVRs beginning next year.

To be sure, many consumers purchase DVRs hoping to avoid commercials. But TiVo said that lots of users choose to watch long-form commercials, typically about cars or Hollywood films, after they are downloaded discretely to TiVo set-top boxes.

QUESTIONS ABOUT LONG-FORM VIDEOS

"They (viewers) are spending two to four minutes engaged in the brand -- that is what makes that so valuable," he said. "We see between 5-and-30 percent of people who enter the (enhanced) showcases will release their names to that company."

TiVo says TV advertisers, facing dwindling TV audiences, are anxious for new ways to reach TV watchers and insist that viewers enjoy special ads... (Continued Here)

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Can I use the TiVo to tell advertisers to [censored] off? That'd be tight.
I love the idea of TiVo, don't get me wrong, but I find it a ripoff to have to pay monthly for something I've dished $300 out for...
Isn't it like 5 bucks a month? boo hoo

And you paid $300 for the hardware, not the service.
It's $12.95 a month per box on top of the "one time" hardware purchase which can be upwards of $500+ dependant on the capacity you'd want...

So yes, boo hoo...
Some direct TV boxes come with it now. It is a rip off. They are selling your stats and making money(hint you are being watched while you watch) Then they sell the service at a monthly fee, and the harware...

I see them lining up to compete with the ratings companies out there.
That's why we say [censored] DirectTV. Public broadcast over airwaves all the way. holla
'eh no, thats why we build our own DVR's and have many uses vs just a DVR heh... Me for example, I'm throwin a few emulators up on mine just for fun...
here in oz we'v just developed 'the remote control', so i doubt we'l have this TiVo anytime soon.

its a [censored] being so laid back here sometimes frown
I hear it gets hot there too wink ...
ha, i was born and bred in south africa. brisbane weather's got nothing on it.
although the lack of humidity means body-odour is more distiguisable :p

but il be coming up to the states (mass.) at the end of the semester so i better enjoy as much sun as i can now. wink
Bring gizzy souveneers! any types... epecially small statues wink
hehe
il make a note of that.
il do the sterotypical thing and get a kangaroo and koala stuffed toy (for trey) and the 'boomerang dildo' for u and icey :p
oh yeh, you're an aussie... I like boomerangs and wierd outback [censored] like that... bring it!
SWEET!!!!

Where in Mass are you going. Used to live out there once upon a time. Thank god I got out of that friggen hick town!!!!
roflmao, geez. ta for the town bio :p
amehurst (i think thats how u spell it)

me uncle lectures contemporary music at the university of amehurst and i got a partial scholarship into UMASS.

is it really that bad there?
amhurst is fine... the town next to it is Granby, which is where i lived. drugs are sold in the bathroom by the students to not only the students but also the staff and the sherif's office.... u'd be able to visit my bestfriend/sister laugh

sadly enough if i had stayed there my graduating class would of had about 40 [eople in it... damn hick towns...
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