Jamie Kellner, chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., argued that
if personal video recorders like TiVo Inc.'s and SONICblue Inc.'s ReplayTV are going to allow viewers to
zap commercials, consumers should pay for the privilege -- as much as $250 per
year.
At a dinner with AOL Time Warner executives and the media Sunday in New Orleans --
gathered there for the National Show -- Kellner said he worries that PVRs that
will eventually be installed in set-top boxes threaten to destroy commercial TV,
which, he argued, is already a fragile business.
He cited a new analyst report that said the "Big Four" broadcast networks spend
$18 billion per year on programming and related costs and get a paltry 2 percent
return.
One solution, he suggested: Consumers can choose either to have zapless PVRs
or to pay the fee to have the capability of skipping by
commercials.
