From my long career in advertising I learned that, contrary to popular wisdom, people don't hate advertising. They just hate *bad* advertising. Unfortunately a huge percentage of advertising is bad. I DVR my favorite shows and skip past the commercials too. But I do like the innovative approaches by some companies - American Idol with Coca Cola, iTunes and Ford comes to mind. Coke sponsors in-show interviews with Coke logo backgrounds, iTunes puts the songs up for download and Ford makes music-vid vignettes with the show's stars doing goofy things involving a Ford car. All of this advertising is entertaining and most importantly enhances the experience of watching the show. What sets it apart is the recognition and respect of why the audience is there in the first place. The ads, well, *add* to the show rather than detract from it. Other advertisers would do well to understand this if they want to succeed in a choice-empowered-consumer world. On the other hand, when great shows like the CBS comedy Big Bang Theory are produced, I'd be more than happy to pay for them outright and skip the advertising aspect altogether.