Forced to watch ads.

[crunchie]

Hmmm.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19801

[jwenting]

It's simple: that advertising pays for the movie. If it weren't there that DVD would cost you a lot more.
A typical movie will retrieve over half its production cost from sponsorship (read advertising).

If customers can just skip that advertising the advertisers will go running to other media like internet bannerads and popups with smart technology to evade blockers.
Or they'll turn the movie itself into an advertising freakshow instead of showing a few ads before and after.
This is already happening, with brand symbols and names being ever more publicly and for ever longer times shown in movies.
James Bond now rides a BMW instead of an Aston Martin because BMW paid a few million and donated the cars.
Another movie may feature the heroes in an airline terminal where a United Airlines aircraft is visible in the frame (plus a United checkin desk, a United luggage trolly, etc. etc) for minutes at a time.
Any advertising you see in movies on busstops, storefronts, etc. etc. is almost certainly not coincidental.
In some movies the heroes will walk around in clearly mark clothes from one brand or another not because it has any relation to the story line but because that designer paid for the privilege.
In the movie The Net Sandra Bullock very clearly used a Mac, the villains used PCs. Guess who sponsored that movie?

That's only bound to get worse. At least now it's mainly atmospheric and not very intrusive. Expect such advertising to only get more intrusive and disturbing until such a time as movies are in effect no more than billboards for the sponsors.
I'd rather have a few slides or 20 second ads before it starts...

[Cain]

this guy has a great rant going on. beware. there's no sugar coating for moral america
on his website. http://stupidevilbastard.com/index/seb/comments/skip_a_commercial_go_to_jail/

or see what the Brits say that the Italians have to say about it here...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/24/italian_court_rules_mod_chips/

or see what happens when you tinker with your ps2
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/emergingtech/0,39020357,2103206,00.htm

but when you modify your xbox for sport its okay and you get paid
http://news.com.com/2100-1043-994794.html

unless you play halo2.. .. attempt to disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, modify...
http://news.com.com/Is+Microsoft+using+Halo+2+to+thwart+Xbox+hackers/2100-1043_3-5449160.html

do NOT obtain devices that fix broken dvd players here
http://www.dvdupgrades.ch/
that would be illegal.

instead.. just play DVDs on a microsoft based pc and pipe it out
to your television via your svga capable graphics card.. you mean to tell me that your
home pc isnt a part of your home entertainment system..?!?!? what about that digital
multiplexer and patch panel youve got hooked up to it to fix the bad signal you get on cable?

say it aint so mama.. say it aint so