USA Today reports on a new pseudo-DVR service:
[NBC Universal] agreed to let Time Warner use popular programs — including The West Wing, Law & Order: SVU and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno — on a cable service called Start Over, which will be launched next month in Columbia, S.C.
With Start Over, digital cable customers who miss the beginning of certain shows, but who tune in before the end, can push a button and go back to the start. They also can pause and rewind the show — but can’t fast-forward through commercials.
I’m not entirely sure how this is going to work. If I can’t fast-forward, then I have to be very careful when I rewind or I’m forced to watch a portion of a show again. Given that cable-company DVRs are dirt-cheap, why would anyone want this?
This is a classic example of a company designing a product that considers its customers secondary to its ad dollars.
NBC Universal Cable President David Zaslav is a master of denial: “The attraction of Start Over is that there’s no fast-forwarding through commercials, and it keeps you on the traditional television platform.”
The attraction to whom?