Screw Royal Philips

"The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely."

I'm already strongly considering not buying a new TV when the digital switchover happens. Stuff like this just makes the decision easier. (And talk about a stupid idea; I wonder what happens when you're switching channels from the middle of a program and happen upon an ad. This basically removes the functionality of the +/- channel buttons on your remote.)