Engadget reported yesterday that cable provider Cox has disabled the ability to fast-forward through commercials inside video-on-demand programming from ABC and ESPN (both of which are owned by Disney, BTW).
As the Engadget post recognizes, it’s now merely a matter of time before this spreads to anything that you might choose to download and watch through your cable-provided DVR. And don’t be smug if you’re not a Cox customer, because the others will be right behind them.
Meanwhile, if you recall the brief post I had recently about “channel bonding”, I was wailing over the unlikelihood of faster broadband.
But Engadget also reported yesterday that Comcast has demoed the exact same technology. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts only went so far as to say that the modems might be available in this country in a “couple of years”, so I guess we’ll all have to hold our breaths just a little longer.
