The post title is a quote from an article in the newspaper known as the Grey Lady. It discussed how TV networks are reacting to the increasing use of the DVR.
I think that they are great innovations, freeing one from the broadcast schedule, without having to balance a stack of video cassettes and remember to set the recorder for each show. When we play back a show, we skip through the all too frequent commercial breaks. These occur more often than in the UK, breaking the dramatic flow.
It appears that the effort of pushing the fast-forward button is too great for nearly half of US viewers of shows on their DVR as they slouch on the couch. This is good news for networks, who had been understandably worried that as more shows were recorded for later viewing, they would lose watchers of the adverts that pay their bills. The ratings agency, Nielsen, have now started counting not show audiences, but those who watch the adverts at broadcast or within three days, and this discovered that TV viewers are even lazier than we might have thought.
[NYT]
