# Does DirecTV have/use the ability to track......



## Bike Effects (Sep 30, 2006)

Does DirecTV have/use the ability to track the programs that I watch or record? It would be OK with me as it would be a kind of vote for what kind of programming I watch.


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## DishCSR (Jan 14, 2004)

well, sorta, if you have an interactive recvr and go to the active menu, then view "what's hot" it gives you a view of what people are watching, not sure how this data is acquired though, i'm pretty sure it's through the phone line .


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## bt-rtp (Dec 30, 2005)

Bike Effects said:


> Does DirecTV have/use the ability to track the programs that I watch or record? It would be OK with me as it would be a kind of vote for what kind of programming I watch.


Yes, absolutely. Go to channel 102 called News Mix. After about a minute, hit the red button on your remote for "What's Hot". This does not work on TiVo STBs, only DirecTV STBs. HR20 supports it. On Sundays during football season, it is disabled to provide additional capacity for all of the football games.

DirecTV can easily support a more advanced form of information collection and aggregation. Most of their STBs are connected to a phone line. Think of how valuable this would be to advertisers, such as the Nielsen Ratings. I'm failrly sure that they do this today and sell the data.

The other point to your question is customer privacy, I.e. are they logging everything that each customer is viewing ? The ability and/or capability certainly is present in the technology. The data has value. Talk among yourselves...


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

DVR providers (D *, Tivo, etc.) keep track of what programming is recorded, when it's played back, how many times, etc. This data is sold to 3rd parties, like Nielsen.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

You used to be able to opt out of some of that stuff on the DirecTV web page, but it seems to have disappeared. Now you have to call or write. I guess making it easy wasn't having the desired effect.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

n3ntj said:


> DVR providers (D *, Tivo, etc.) keep track of what programming is recorded, when it's played back, how many times, etc. This data is sold to 3rd parties, like Nielsen.


Yes, but they claim it is in aggregate form. ie they do not provide what individuals watched/recorded, but instead give overall numbers.


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## longrider (Apr 21, 2007)

There is a very easy solution, dont hook your receiver to the phone or internet. All you lose is the ability to order PPV with the remote, and in the case of the HR20, DoD.

I dont have a big problem with the info being sent, I don't watch anything I am ashamed of and they certainly dont broadcast anything illegal.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

You can opt out of data collection on DIRECTV's web site but if you don't, you should presume that they are tracking everything they possibly can.


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## bhelton71 (Mar 8, 2007)

Herdfan said:


> Yes, but they claim it is in aggregate form. ie they do not provide what individuals watched/recorded, but instead give overall numbers.


Thats probably a fair assessment - they wouldn't have any way to know if I watched something or someone else in the house did. Its funny - if you actually read any of the Neilsen stuff - they are struggling with metrics now.

I don't see how any of their metrics are valid:

person a in household 1 watched show x at hour 5 - traditional measurement
person a in household 1 also viewed a show x related website during hour 5
person a in household 1 ffwd thru commercial d during hour 5
person b in household 1 timeshifted show y at hour 5 and watched it at hour 7
person c in household 1 placeshifted show x at hour 5 and watched it at hour 9 from a portable device
person c in household 1 watched on demand show z at hour 5
person c in household 1 watched show y 3 days later from major network website

And they are seriously trying to report all of those scenarios. Now they are using the concept of a people meter - so basically the meter is for any content from any source - it follows the person instead of the tv. And they are rating commercials, and net usage for media, video on demand, etc. Its crazy, but big bucks.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> You can opt out of data collection on DIRECTV's web site but if you don't, you should presume that they are tracking everything they possibly can.


Stuart,

I don't think you can any longer. I searched and couldn't fine the opt-out stuff on their site. The privacy policy now states you can opt-out by calling or writing. Can you find the link?


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## lostman72 (Nov 28, 2005)

longrider said:


> There is a very easy solution, dont hook your receiver to the phone or internet. All you lose is the ability to order PPV with the remote, and in the case of the HR20, DoD.
> 
> I dont have a big problem with the info being sent, I don't watch anything I am ashamed of and they certainly dont broadcast anything illegal.


You also will lose VOD (DOD) if you don't have the internet pluged in.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Ken S said:


> Stuart,
> 
> I don't think you can any longer. I searched and couldn't fine the opt-out stuff on their site. The privacy policy now states you can opt-out by calling or writing. Can you find the link?


By gum, it's not where it was...

I'll look further and see what I can find.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

longrider said:


> There is a very easy solution,


Solution to what? I didn't see any problems posed.


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## ddrumman2004 (Mar 28, 2007)

Heh! My g/f's brother-in-law states that he believes that satellite providers, he has Dish Network, can watch us through the front of the receiver and see what we are doing!
I told him just to block the port on front for his remote. He did that but complained about the remote not working so I told him not to do anything in front of the television that he didn't want Dish to know about.

Yes.....I'm serious! He's a character!


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

ddrumman2004 said:


> Heh! My g/f's brother-in-law states that he believes that satellite providers, he has Dish Network, can watch us through the front of the receiver and see what we are doing!
> I told him just to block the port on front for his remote. He did that but complained about the remote not working so I told him not to do anything in front of the television that he didn't want Dish to know about.
> 
> Yes.....I'm serious! He's a character!


it's absolutely not true!
(Could you also remind him that the striped shirt and checkered pants he wore last night DO not match). Oh, and the kitty litter needs a change.


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## paulh (Mar 17, 2003)

FYI, after the Janet Jackson Superbowl malfunction, Tivo reported that the halftime show was the most highly repeated TV event in their history..

So DVR's can report how many times parts of a show were repeated...


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

Your DVR keeps a log of EVERYTHING you do on it. Every command sent is logged. You mesh that data with a good data miner and toss in cross-referenced demographic data and it is a very, very valuable pile of 1s and 0s.

They're not the only ones. ISPs do it, AOL does it, Telcos do it, etc.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

We (some of the other TechKnows) are working on getting clarrification on where the option to OPT-OUT of data collection has gone to.

In the past... you had three options

1) Complete OPT-OUT
2) Allow anonymous aggrate data only
3) Allow specific "tied to you" viewing data to be collected.

I opted for #3... as I truely do want them to know what I watch..
As I am getting very tired of shows I enjoy getting cancelled.


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## MikeW (May 16, 2002)

It seems that this would be very inaccurate when tracking live tv. If you simply turn the TV off at night and leave the box on, it will show you have a strong interest in watching Paid Programming every night.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

MikeW said:


> It seems that this would be very inaccurate when tracking live tv. If you simply turn the TV off at night and leave the box on, it will show you have a strong interest in watching Paid Programming every night.


Mike,

Certainly, they can't be certain when you're watching, but a good data mining person will know what to look for. They'll probably have a "time out" if there's no command of any sort for a long period of time....and then start "counting" again once they record a command.

I don't know if the DirecTV receivers (not DVRs) collect information. I know that most of the major cable companies haven't in the past as I have a buddy that works for a company that does the old type of "log" data collection for most of the major cable companies. They do a little electronic logging as well, but it's a separate box...and they pay the people to participate.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

Earl Bonovich said:


> We (some of the other TechKnows) are working on getting clarrification on where the option to OPT-OUT of data collection has gone to.
> 
> In the past... you had three options
> 
> ...


Earl,

Any word on what happened to these options? Have they decided to make this written request only now?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Ken S said:


> Earl,
> 
> Any word on what happened to these options? Have they decided to make this written request only now?


Last feedback we got from DirecTV (in the thread for the TechKnows)
Was that they are contacting their UI/Internet Team, to find out why it is not available on the site.

No reply yet.


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## mcbeevee (Sep 18, 2006)

Every time I tried to use the Opt Out features on the Directv website, I would get a screen message stating that the change would take effect in 1-2 weeks. Then when I returned to check the status after 2 weeks, none of my preferences would be saved.


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## Jimbo2 (May 10, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> You can opt out of data collection on DIRECTV's web site but if you don't, you should presume that they are tracking everything they possibly can.





Ken S said:


> Stuart,
> 
> I don't think you can any longer. I searched and couldn't fine the opt-out stuff on their site. The privacy policy now states you can opt-out by calling or writing. Can you find the link?


Guys,
If you opted out previously, ( a year ago or so) are you still opted out, now that the option is not available online, or was it all reset and you need to call or write in to them ?

Jimbo


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## ddrumman2004 (Mar 28, 2007)

Ken S said:


> it's absolutely not true!
> (Could you also remind him that the striped shirt and checkered pants he wore last night DO not match). Oh, and the kitty litter needs a change.


I know it's not true! I was just "humoring" him!

Since the story came out about the feds being able to monitor your cell phones, even with them turned off, he's really paranoid about satellite television and using his cell phone!


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

Jimbo2 said:


> Guys,
> If you opted out previously, ( a year ago or so) are you still opted out, now that the option is not available online, or was it all reset and you need to call or write in to them ?
> 
> Jimbo


Jimbo,

I used to opt out, but if I came back to the webpage after a few months it was mysteriously changed. I just went the extra step and sent a letter stating I wanted to opt out of their data collection and marketing programs.
To those that stay in they should offer some sort of compensation.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

ddrumman2004 said:


> I know it's not true! I was just "humoring" him!


That's all I was doing too.


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## dhhaines (Nov 18, 2005)

Sat receivers and cable boxes can't be very good at really seeing what people are watching, at least in my house. Mine are usually on 24/7, which means there are 4 receivers with 7 tuners on at all times. How does that register with the ratings?


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

dhhaines said:


> Sat receivers and cable boxes can't be very good at really seeing what people are watching, at least in my house. Mine are usually on 24/7, which means there are 4 receivers with 7 tuners on at all times. How does that register with the ratings?


It doesn't most of the ratings services are still using logs and polls to get their results. Some of the cable companies get people to allow a separate box to be attached that records what is being watched.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

dhhaines said:


> Sat receivers and cable boxes can't be very good at really seeing what people are watching, at least in my house. Mine are usually on 24/7, which means there are 4 receivers with 7 tuners on at all times. How does that register with the ratings?


They are really looking for recorded and play back stats on shows from dvr's. They still use mostly written logs for live viewing, although thats starting to change.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> We (some of the other TechKnows) are working on getting clarrification on where the option to OPT-OUT of data collection has gone to.
> 
> In the past... you had three options
> 
> ...


I couldn't agree more. The more people that watch a good show on a dvr the better because they will be less likely to cancel it that way, because they'll know its truly being watched.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

inkahauts said:


> I couldn't agree more. The more people that watch a good show on a dvr the better because they will be less likely to cancel it that way, because they'll know its truly being watched.


Umm...that would depend on whether the networks are actually using that data to make their determinations on shows.


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