[Engadget] TiVo planning banner ads for when you fast-forward. Congress considering a bill that would make it illegal to fast-forward through commercials on DVDs is already bad enough, but apparently determined to alienate their customers even in the absence of a Federal law, TiVo has quietly been cutting deals with advertisers to put banner ads up on screen when you fast-forward through commercials. Beginning in March when you try and fast-forward through a commercial you’ll see a small “billboard”; click the pop up and you’ll be automatically entered in a contest or get on a list to be sent more information about the product being advertised (all opt-in, they claim).

More here on Yahoo and on the Tivo Forum.

I’m not sure what I think of this yet - you’ll still be able to FF through commercial, but I’m not crazy about these popup banners. If this turns out to be true, I’ll most likely ditch my Tivo in favor of one of those new Comcast boxes.

Guess I’ll hold off on that ‘lifetime subscription’ I was about to pay for.