Networks and Studios Against PVRs

HiredMan sent in an LA Times story talking about more suits against PVR makers like Replay and Tivo. The most bizarre quote to me is that the suit argues that "it's illegal to let consumers record and store shows based on the genre, actors or other words in the program description." Huh?

Silliness

[Cirrocco]

Next thing you know they won't allow people to take snapshots in Vegas because they're afraid people will be seeing all there is to see.

Necessary info

[Lothar+0]

Users don't need to know when "Friends" is on.

Neither do I, but the rest of America makes sure I do. =P

DEAR GOD!

[fluxrad]

I agree this PVR trend has gone quite far enough! If we continue to let people use these "magic boxes" to record TV shows, pause them, skip the commercials, or pretty much view the shows as they want to view them, then its only a matter of time before we slip into total anarchy!

It's a snowball effect....even today, I've been hearing rumors of people that buy blank reels of magnetic tape and put them in short, wide, black boxes to record shows when they're not home! They even use other buttons on their new-fangled "remote controls" other than Play, Pause, and Stop."

Someone stop this insanity before the child-actors from "Different Strokes" become destitute and are forced to rob convenience stores!

If the studios had their way...

[saarbruck]

...it'd be illegal to watch shows based on the genre, actors or other words in the program description. There would be only one channel. Advertisements 24 hours a day, except, if we're all good little sheep, we might get a half hour of news & traffic reports at 6:00 am and 6:00 pm.

Re:Coming next

[Tackhead]

>: A lawsuit by the Buggy Whip Manufacturers Association against the automobile industry, because the change from carriages to automobiles has decimated their markets. The Horse Manure Shoveler's Association is expected to sign on as co-plaintiff.

Editorial nitpick: An analogy typically involves a comparison between two different things. For instance, "the automobile replacing the horse-drawn carriage" can be half of the analogy, with "the PVR versus Television industry" battle being the other half. The "Buggy Whip Manufacturers' Association" part of your analogy, for instance, made sense.

But then you went and included the "Horse Manure Shoveler's Association".

I don't mean to nitpick, but, if both halves of your analogy talk about the entertainment industry, it's not really an analogy, is it? ;-)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:DEAR GOD!

[Anonymous Coward]

Here here! If we allow PVRs then the terrorists win!

Re:Coming next

[joe90]

You don't think shovelling shit has relevance to the entertainment industry? You don't watch much TV huh ;-)

Re:Explaining the bizzare "illegal" quote

[Asikaa]

"Correct me if I'm wong"

1 billion Chinese can't be wong.

Re:Scary but true

[Merconium]

What was sad was that they kept raising the rates to try to make up the loss of revenue, and they kept losing stores because of it.

So that's why I sucked at SimCity when I was nine.

Roddenberry right again?

[Snaller]

SONNY: How do you turn on this here teevee?

RIKER: Teevee?

SONNY: Yeah, boob-tube...

DATA(to Riker)Oh -- I think he means television, sir.

DATA(to Sonny)That particular form of entertainment did not last much beyond the year Two Thousand Forty.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - "The Neutral Zone"