@g e
I too fats forward the adverts through Sky+, however I don't see this as stealing as such for a few important reasons:
(1) I already pay Sky for my subscription. They then pay the channel providers out of that money. Not sure how this works with ITV/C4/5 but I imagine it is something similar. They also get some of the license fee so I am quite happy I am "doing my bit."
(2) I don't watch everything from recorded, the things that are live still get the opportunity to try to sell their brand of crap to an empty room whilst I am making a cuppa or visiting the toilet.
I think the problem with advert supported locational services (such as hulu.com or whatever) is that TV advertising must be effective (or they wouldn't spend money on it) but not to someone who couldn't ever use or buy the product being advertised. Sure I would love a Smith and Wesson PerpKiller .45 Auto - but plod would not be too happy, I don't need to know about the latest quitfiddlin drug as it is not up to me what my GP prescribes and I couldn't buy a '98 Chevvy BigBoy from Honest Kyles motors in Milwaukee cos I live in Blighty.