Like the title says…
On the pro side, they have to be getting more viewers. They have to worry less about being up against a hot show, because they’ll be drawing eyeballs anyway. I know my weekly viewing habits would be cut by a third if not for DVR.
On the con side, they know viewers are skipping past the commercials. While this doesn’t effect the networks directly (except for viewers missing commercials for upcoming network shows), it still eventually hits them in the pocketbook. Advertisers are less willing to shell out big bucks on commercials is people aren’t watching them. Networks are then forced to do things like product placement and in-show sponsorships.
I’m sure network execs look at them as a necessary evil – they’re not going anywhere, so the networks will just have to adapt. But if they could, would they prefer a return to non-time-shiftable programming?
Hmm…GD? CS? GD? CS? 'Eh…CS wins the coin toss.
And yet somehow, I didn’t notice I was in MPSIMS. :smack: If I could trouble a passing mod, please?
Well, you’re actually in the right forum for this. If you just want to have a general discussion of the topic, MPSIMS is the right place; after all, your topic doesn’t really have anything to do with the arts, per se.
Now, should the discussion get meaty enough, we can then boot it on over to GD. But until then, you fumbled correctly. 
That’s one thing that really pissed me off about Direct TV. Said for the longest time that you couldn’t get broadcast network programming since it would cut the revenue from commercials for the local network affiliates. You don’t watch their (local) commercials, they lose money.
Fine.
Now they advertise FREE!!! TIVO/DVR packages so you can “Skip those annoying commercials!”.
Oh, you mean so I don’t watch the commercials, like the ones I was going to deprive the network affiliates out of revenue by not watching?
FWIW, some markets can now get network feed over Direct TV. I’m not in one of those markets and the wind blew my $110 TV antenna down. The one I had to buy so I could watch snow on the broadcast channels.
As for the OP…
They probably feel like you’ll still watch some non-recorded TV along with the commercials. They’ll just need to increase the length of the commercial breaks to make up for it.
Nielsen is offering two different ratings systems, one live and one “delayed,” I believe. It’s fairly new, so I don’t know much about it. I know few (if any) agencies are going with the “delayed” numbers, probably because the methodology is too new to be proven.