During the telecast of the 2005 IndyCar Series races on ABC and ESPN, commercial breaks did not interrupt race coverage. Instead, there were split screen commercial breaks. ESPN on March 6, and ABC on March 19, delivered ads in a larger screen while continuing to show race coverage in a smaller screen.

Also, the entire screen was branded by race sponsor Toyota and the audio feed from the race was silenced during the commercials.

However, it is not a new innovation they have come up with. Such kind of broadcasts have taken place in other countries, including UK, for some time now.

Innovative or not but it is a sure shot way to circumvent TiVo's Ad Skipping abilities.

I really doubt if they will be able to extend it to broadcasts other than sports broadcasts.

Read more about this technology.

If Apple buys Tivo, and Tivo becomes a more 'pc' like media appliance -- it will take all of 3 hours for someone to come up with a work around to this problem.

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Final Fantasy