Yahoo! News - TV Networks Shift Times, Run Longer Shows

"SAN JOSE, Calif. - Television networks are lending new meaning to time-shifting: TV shows don't necessarily start or end right on the hour or half-hour anymore, screwing up some viewers' video recordings.

More programs are running an extra minute or two longer to keep viewers from switching channels. Shows recently padded include CBS's 'Without a Trace,' Fox's 'Renovate My Family,' ABC's 'The Bachelor' and NBC's 'ER,' according to Nielsen Media Research.

The tactic has been used on and off for a few years but has grown more popular as competition in network television stiffens" Via PVRBlog

IMHO, this is simply a race for the cemetery. Any show that pulls that kind of crap, is weak in the first place. Funny thing is this isn't a "Babylon-5"/"American Gothic" kind of "we're dumping the show" kind of move, it's actually a cheap attempt to keep people watching their channel.

The person who posted this mentioned that it shows the case for having a PVR with two tuners. I like the fact that the ReplayTV can view shows recorded on another ReplayTV on the same local network. That effectively gives you two tuners to play with, and considering you can get the new units for as low as $89 (after a rebate). Damned nice.

Fundamentally, too this shows a real lack of understanding by the people at the Networks as to how this whole PVR thing functions for people. Or maybe they do understand it, and this is all they can come up with to respond to it. Whatever their side of it, people's viewing habits change radically when they use a PVR for time-shifting. You don't sit and watch extended periods of TV. My daughter, by way of example watches far less TV when we have the Replay, and the TV she does watch is far more focussed. I notice it as we shift between two residences, one of which doesn't have any PVR's, and would rather buy extra ReplayTV's than do without.

9:22:16 PM     Discuss: [] trackback []


Clipper Chip and Commercial Skip

So, everyone by this point knows about the legislation being pushed that includes making it illegal to skip commercials.

No, I'm not chasing that, everyone else is blasting it adequately.

My problem is with commercials, not some stupid-ass legislation that's doomed from the start, if only from an enforcement standpoint.

What kills me is that they push crap like the clipper chip and the ability to block channels. "We give you control over what your children watch." What a load of horse-manure. What I care about my daughter watching is the blatant sexist, commercialist crap that goes on between the shows.. Whatever shows she's watching, I know what that show is. What I have no control over is the aforementioned swill. Especially considering how much os shows are cut for the commercials.

I want a ReplayTV, and I mean the one with Commercial Advance (Imagine having a DVR that jumps over the commercials for you.)

9:21:41 PM     Discuss: [] trackback []


GinMar Rocks!

No..I mean she just well and truly rocks. She's an incredibly obnoxious jerk. More importantly, she's an intelligent, well-written obnoxious jerk. Even Better, she's an obnoxious jerk who is currently a Reservist serving in Iraq, running shipments of Singing Camels, helping Iraqi's feeding wayward kittens and not using the phrase, "Both sucks and blows, sir," when encouraged to speak frankly by a colonel.

I found her LiveJournal a while back when it was linked to after she wrote an account of their pull-out in, I believe Fallujah.

She's writing a book, whether she realizes it or not, yet.

Note: Do not go to any of the above links if you are easily offended. Or her LiveJournal at all, for that matter. :)

9:20:55 PM     Discuss: [] trackback []