Philips wants to prevent zapping

The electronics company Philips has filed a patent application in the USA for a technology that is designed to prevent television viewers from switching between commercial breaks. In the case of recorded programs, fast-forwarding during commercial breaks is also to be made impossible, as reported by Golem.de. If you still want to skip the commercials or change channels, you will have to pay a fee, according to the Philips developers. The "Advertisement Controller" is primarily intended to protect the interests of television broadcasters in view of the increasing number of hard disk recorders. However, technology enthusiasts on German Internet forums suspect that this could be a strategic patent. In this case, Phillips just wants to make sure that no one beats them to it without planning to launch it on the market in the near future. Nevertheless, there are also fears that the technology - similar to code-secured DVD players - could catch on and force other devices off the market.