Would You Pay To Have Your Favorite Program "Commercial Free"?

Commercials pay for programming. Without them, the programs goes away. Would you be willing to pay a fee to have your favorite program "commercial free"? By "commercial free", I mean your weekly broadcast would be stacked with the entire program broadcast first (like on a "completed series" DVD), then all the commercials that used to be run during the show, would run after the show was over (in case there was an ad you wanted to see).

DVRs kill the need for this. If I paid for it I would only pay a very nominal amount, or just subscribe to a network like when I had HBO. The problem here is that there are too many repeats to pay for.

Put me down NO.

I concur with AZDuffman, saving the 3-4 seconds I spend fast-forwarding through each set of commercials wouldn't be worth it to me. I've got HBO, Starz, Cinemax, Showtime and Encore, but that's just because, for whatever bizarre reason, the same package would have been more if I did not take those channels. I can't speak for my wife, but I don't believe I've ever watched anything on any of them. I'm pretty much strictly Netflix/Sports, if it weren't for the kids channels and the stuff my wife likes, I'd have Netflix only and save ~$30/month.

Yes, it really is only $30 more a month to have this huge Cable package than it is to have Internet/Phone only, I don't understand that either, except it apparently costs them a good deal less than $30/month to bring that to me.

I will tell you what I'd be willing to pay, maybe $2.00/month for, during NFL Season. If there was some way, during live games, that it would automatically go to some highlights program and then back to the game when the commercials were over, I'd pay for that.

I was all set to click no, but then I realized that I kind of already do this. I use the Comcast on demand feature all the time. Like, daily. Those are reduced-commercial airings, usually 47 minutes of real time for a 42 minute episode. if the service didn't exist, I doubt I'd pay for the package that I have.

what might eb accompished by removing the need for commercials is amazing.

There's this local science show I listen to. It was canceled by its radio station, but the host and his team (meaning the host and his wife) moved the whole thing online. This made the show better, as each one lasted one full hour, rather than 45+ minutes and commercials.

Unfortunately they've had scant luck landing another contract, so now they are in hiatus while they come up with a revenue stream. Likley they'll charge for their show and the website they've been promising for a few months now with additional material. I'd be more than willing to pay for that. The host is really, really good. In a two hour special last year he managed to make me understand the basics of Quantum Physics reasonably well.

I can't imagine paying any more than I already do to get "TV". Every time someone says, "Oh, you have to watch such and such, it's so good" and I bother to give it a try it's always the same, after 2 or 3 episodes the pattern emigres and it's boring. It amazes me that people don't demand more variety in what they'll spend their time consuming. Every time I hear someone mention one of those CSI shows it's in another location... how many clones of the same boring, formula-driven show do we really need?

Back in the last century, when cable TV first came out, it was called "pay TV", remember? And the premise of it was that you were paying a fee so that you could watch shows without commercials because you were acting as the sponsor.

Then, little by little, commercials crept in. I remember when AMC (American Movie Classics) was commercial-free; now it has just as many interruptions as NBC and the movies are edited for language as if they were on a network too. Even PBS stations now have commercials; they're not called that and there's no product pitching per se, but that's what they are.

And after all that, we're paying more for television than we ever have.

I have DISH Network and I have to subscribe to the 2nd highest package because there are 2 channels -- just 2 -- that I really want that are not available on any other package. So I'm paying for about 50 sports and Spanish-speaking channels that I never watch and don't want, just to get 2 that I do want.

Quote: 123Smitty

Back in the last century, when cable TV first came out, it was called "pay TV", remember? And the premise of it was that you were paying a fee so that you could watch shows without commercials because you were acting as the sponsor.

Cable worked differently in mexico at the start. Details on request.

In the late 90s, though, one channel was commercial-free. It was great, until I really needed to use the bathroom halfway through the second hour of B5's pilot.

My current cable box allows me a favorite channels list. It's perhaps 5% of the total package, and I watch maybe 1/4 of those regularly.

"Pay TV" started in New York in the late 70s. There were maybe 10 channels, most of them sex shows or shows like "Wayne's World", where people broadcast from their basements.

I remember when we got our first cable box in the early 80s. There was a way to turn one of the screws on the back of the box to bring in the Playboy Channel (which came on only at night) wthout paying for it, and everybody did it until the cable company got wise and fixed the box so everything was inside and you couldn't mess with anything any more.