This question was asked of me recently, and although I’ve written about it in the past, I thought it was time to revisit this question. The answer is really simple: content provider greed. OK, that seems a little harsh. Let me back up and say instead, “someone has to pay for all this stuff.” That seems a bit more neutral. So, having started that, let’s take a closer look.
About DIRECTV’s on-demand programs
DIRECTV’s on-demand system dates to the late ’00s. It was one of the first nationwide HD on demand systems, although other providers had on demand in SD in larger cable systems for several years. It came long before Hulu and other ad-supported video-on-demand systems. Keep in mind this was long before streaming really came into the picture. Today we take this sort of thing for granted but back then people were really clamoring for it.
In order to get on-demand content from some networks, DIRECTV had to promise that viewers couldn’t skip the ads. Ad-skipping was a huge concern in the late 2000s as DVRs began to take over and making non-skippable ads was a big priority. Giving content providers the confidence to know their ads would be seen was a big “carrot” in getting them to approve nationwide, HD on demand. So, the lawyers all got together and decided that much of the content on DIRECTV would have non-skippable ads. Unfortunately given the constraints of the technology back then, it also meant that since you couldn’t fast-forward through the ads, you couldn’t fast-forward through the program. It was a big sacrifice but it made all the big boys in the boardroom happy at the time.
Something else to consider
Another reason fast forward was disabled at the time was that most people could barely manage to get a standard definition program in real time. I remember the rule of thumb at our home was, you could watch on-demand programming in SD about 5 minutes after you requested it, but you had to watch 25-30 minutes to get it in HD. Taking fast forward out of the equation meant that you’d have a much better experience and wouldn’t be stuck buffering.
So here we are well over a decade later, and on-demand still works about the same. Of course now you have Hulu and other apps that let you fast forward through the content and not the commercials, and you think that’s pretty normal, but DIRECTV hasn’t really updated that system to let you fast forward through content but keep the commmercials. I don’t think they will, either, because chances are people aren’t really annoyed with it. I’d even say that people are more used to this than before. Ads in streaming content can’t usually be skipped and people have learned to deal with that. People do still watch on demand because it’s convenient, but since most on demand content is also available from provider apps (which are unlocked when you are a DIRECTV subscriber, you can find it another way if it really bothers you that you can’t fast forward.
Clearing up one bit of confusion
There have been cases over the years where people have claimed that they couldn’t fast through regular recorded programs. I’ve yet to see a case where this is true. What’s most likely happening is that people don’t realize they’re “recording” the on-demand version of something. DIRECTV intentionally mixes on-demand and regular content when you search so it’s easy to do. A rule of thumb is, if the program is on a channel with four digits (like 1229) it’s on-demand. If it’s on a channel with three (like 229) that’s a live program you should be able to fast forward through.
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