Reporter Fears PVR, But No One Else Seems To Mind

Overhype

from the good-for-them dept

It looks like a reporter in Australia is really trying to make a story out of nothing today. Apparently, there’s a new personal video recorder device being released there that lets people completely eliminate ads while recording whatever show they want. Broadcasters in the US have fought against such things in the ReplayTV device, and clearly the reporter on the article is trying to stir up some controversy. What’s funny, though, for all of the scary language the reporter uses about how this will impact advertisers and networks she can’t come up with a quote to back it up. In fact, the quotes paint a completely different picture. All the quotes from network people say they don’t think it’s a big deal, and believe that they’ll be fine. Then, the reporter goes down a different path, and suggests the company, Faulconbridge, offering this ICE PVR may be somehow stealing the networks’ programming guides. However, simply asking him shows that’s not true, and they have staff creating their own programming guides. So, despite all of the scary language written by the reporter, it doesn’t seem like anyone (other than the reporter) is actually that concerned about the launch of this device.