Posted by Cory Bergman at his
LostRemote.com blog

Fox is debuting two new shows next season with dramatically fewer commercials.
Calling it “Remote-Free TV,” the shows “Fringe” and “Dollhouse” will run about only five minutes of commercials an hour.
“It’s a simple concept and potentially revolutionary,” Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori said.
“We’re going to have less commercials, less promotional time, and less reason for viewers to use the remote. We’re going to redefine the viewing experience.”
To counter the loss in inventory, Fox plans to charge higher rates for the ads.
Ad buyers were “generally upbeat” about the announcement, says the Hollywood Reporter.
So, what do you think?
Is this a new paradigm for network TV or will you just skip the shorter/fewer breaks with your fast-forward button anyway?

The idea of fewer commercials looks very attractive.   A question is left hanging on this side of the border .. do you think the Canadian network which gloms onto these shows, will honour the Fox-restricted spot load?

an idea I was thinking about was "spiking" a stop-set with a little taste of content.

My girl and I have a DVR and it is the greatest invention ever... we skip commercial all the time... as we whiz by in fast forward, we wait to see a character or title screen to let us know when the show is back... but if there was a tiny little joke or scene from the Office in the middle of the stop set, it force us to stop the fast forward so we don't miss any action.

and get rid of promo's... no one cares, what a waste of prime inventory.  The commercials right after and before content are prime time... why waste them telling me about your crappy news program.  Just have a little text reminder at the bottom of the screen of what is coming up as the show gets back in and either shrink the stop-sets or sell another spot.

and as Pave says... make spots people actually want to see.  My girl has rewinded the DVR when a commercial she likes flashes by to show me how funny or clever it is.

I should run a TV station, seems like a no brainer on how to make money... even in a DVR world.

Quoted from mikedup

The idea of fewer commercials looks very attractive.   A question is left hanging on this side of the border .. do you think the Canadian network which gloms onto these shows, will honour the Fox-restricted spot load?

They'll have to if they want to hang on to their sibu-sub rights.

I read somewhere that more and more, sponsors are paying production companies to have their products shown and used on programs and motion pictures. A box of cornflakes beside a CSI team member is better than a 30 spot.

oh shucks! I cant remember where i saw it but i read an article last week about the future of tv and what tv ad's may look like in 5 or 10 years down the road.. they seemed to think things like the bugs (lil global/ctv logo semi transparent in the bottom left of the screen) themselves would be the ad's.. maybe that will be the way to go ?

product placement would/will work very good.

My girl would buy anything featured on her favourite shows by her favourite actors.

she wants to go to New York and do the "Sex in the City" tour... a whole holiday just to see a couple nightclub entrances and some apartment front doors. crazy.