Advertising Based Broadcasts

Broadcast television, many cable networks, and radio broadcasters depend on advertising for revenues. The Betamax case sets the legal precedent for many of these issues and the VCR was an example of a new copying technology that did not damage the industry.

The making of digital copies is different in some important ways from prior generations of copying technologies, with the most decisive of these differences being the non-deterioration in the quality of successive generations of copies.

New devices, such as TIVO, threaten to destroy advertising revenues for broadcast television by removing advertising when the tape is made, eliminating any effort on the part of the viewer. If such copying intelligence became common or was made available for digital broadcasts of music, what would be the proper reaction on the part of the industry and the government policy makers?

Are these real threats? What would be the most efficient solution(s)? Members of the Center will use their collective expertise to try to answer these questions.