http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com/index.asp?story_id=40212 I always thought Tivo is bad for sports leagues because the viewer can skip commercial. hmm.. I might be wrong.
TiVo will also help sports because I was able to watch the DCU-Metros game from start to finish last night after putting my kid to bed at 8:30. Without TiVo, I would have missed the first half or had to wait til it was done to rewind the tape and watch. TiVo let me watch it when I wanted to, not miss anything when I had to take a leak or get another beer, etc.
Soccer is one sport that isn't helped by the "live" and not missing commercials arguments. With two 45-50 minute sessions of play, people are almost certainly going to get up during the limited amount of time available for commercials during halftime. Soccer - and all sports - will see a steady encroachment of on-screen advertising during play. Of course, you'll also start to see that on traditional prime-time programming, too.
Start? I can't watch a prime-time show without being inundated with moving ads for the next show, or a show next week, or something else.
It's very hard to watch an NFL game without a DVR. Just way, way, way too many commercials. But with a DVR, it takes about an hour, if you have two kids and fast forward from one snap to the next. I think it'll help soccer, as one of the key economic factors working against the sport is voided. In fact, the constant action will be a plus. I think it'll hurt basketball, since the stoppages are concentrated at the end, with all of the timeouts. See, in football, they can adapt by limiting the commercial breaks on changes of possession, and show animated ads during play.
Speaking of on-screen ads, I found the sideline advertising (sideboards?) at Old Trafford very distracting during the recent Arsenal game. I believe it's new this season -- I don't remember it last season, and this was the first game I saw this season from OT. I don't mind the changing video-type ads, but at least don't change them while the ball is close. That would require more control by an operator, but I'm all for ads that don't detract from the viewing experience. The computer-generated ads just beyond the touchlines are just fine. I love my Tivo!
The season premiere of West Wing was incredible. They had so many floating ads for The Apprentice, I thought Trump was a member of the cast.