Some friends have been contemplating the question of how much longer there be anything worth viewing on “free” TV.  The question was inspired by a Business Week article about new technology like TiVo that allows you to easily skip commercials.  People using TiVo can record their favorite show, and even while the show is being recorded, watch it and skip the ads.

The answer to how much longer (assuming, of course, there’s anything worth watching now) is:  for a long time.  Why?  DTV.  Of course, there’s a ‘but’.

The government’s plan for digital television (DTV) broadcasting targets the end of analog broadcasting by 2006.  So far, so good.  You’ll have to buy some new equipment, but it will probably be time for a TV upgrade before 2007 anyway.  (Especially when the HDTV quality DVDs start coming out.  Oh yeah, did I mention that your DVDs will soon be obsolete?  But that topic is for another time.)

Okay:  new equipment, better picture.  Good stuff.  But what about the Pirates?  People can’t be trusted to not redistribute this high-quality signal.  Enter the “broadcast flag”.

Having failed in the Congress, the content industry has pushed the FCC to mandate the broadcast flag.  (Tech TV has an overview of the broadcast flag.)  Basically, it controls whether digital content can go through a gatekeeper, and there will be a gatekeeper on every digital device.

The broadcast flag can keep a show from being recorded by TiVo type equipment.  On the one side of their mouths, they say there are no plans for it to be used on regular broadcast TV shows.  On the other side they say that they need the protection to keep shows from being redistributed.

To read more about the flag, check out Jonathan Krim�s piece in the Washington Post.