I agree, that's more than product placement - It's more like service placement, but essentially the same thing, an advertisement for something.

Product placement is even done on PBS. On "America's Test Kitchen" I can often pick out the sponsor's products being used on the show itself. And that's no accident. Even the kitchen cabinets shown on the set are sponsor products.

On Network TV, commercial time is out of control anymore, though. "The Big Bang Theory" now has only 17 minutes of show time. They have to pay for all those crazy salaries.