1. PVR use is growing, with as many as 60 million units expected in homes by 2010
2. Users fast forward through ads
3. Users want access to broadband content

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So last night I watched The Funniest Commercials of the Year on my TiVo. I made it through the hour long show in about 2 minutes. It was full of advertisements...

I kid of course, but it got me thinking. With the exception of a Super Bowl ad that made the list and a few random ads here and there, I hadn't seen most of the domestic commercials the show highlighted.

In this age of time-shifted TV, I'm sure a lot of you find yourself in a similiar situation as me and stare at your non-PVR owning friends blankly when they ask, "Have you seen that hilarious commercial where the monkeys point the laser lights at that dude's crotch?"

In addition, the show pulled in a bunch of foreign spots, pretty much all of which had me laughing hysterically. If we could get away with half the stuff they pull off in other countries, I'd probably record blocks of television and skip through the programming just to see the commercials.

The program is definitely worth a watch if you want to catch up on all the funny commercials you missed out on in 2006 while utilizing your remotes fast forward and 30-second-skip capabilities.

The show airs again on WTBS Friday, December 29th at 10:30 PM and again on Saturday, December 30th at 6:00 PM.

As reported on PVR Wire last month, those wretched Comcast banner ads found their way back to the program guides of customers living in the Tucson, AZ area.

We speculated that Comcast was on the verge of rolling out this fantastic feature to more markets around the country and appear to have been correct much to the dismay of Comcast digital subscribers.

Livid users have reported seeing the invasive, home-wrecking ads in the Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, and Washington DC areas.

Some may inquire what the big friggin' deal is?

The big deal, ladies and gentlemen is this.

The ads are annoying. Apparently flipping from one page of the EPG to the next requires an additional button press because the EPG cursor must navigate over this ad to move to the next page. The ad is also a bit of an eyesore and takes up a significant amount of real estate.

There's also the fact that we've all gotten accustomed to the idea that when we pay to subscribe to a service (think satellite radio) we don't really encounter ads for the most part. On the contrary, when we don't pay for a service (think terrestrial radio), we must endure a certain amount of advertising. The ads aren't the primary reason behind the discontent, it's more the principle outlined above. To add insult to injury it's been reported that the company line appears to be that the ads are here to stay.

Perhaps the ads will slide through unnoticed among the typical Comcast subscriber and just be accepted as part of the guide. Reader Jack McMillin hopes that does not end up being the case and has created a petition so like minded customers angry with the EPG ads can vent their frustrations, and hopefully get them removed.

Good luck with that one.