The Insanity Continues |
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regulus
Junior Executive Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Location: Nova Catacumba Status: Offline Points: 4436 |
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Posted: 19 Feb 2015 at 4:26pm |
An article in the Wall Street Journal says the Pay-TV Networks are now Speeding up their programming in order to add EVEN MORE Commercials. Why? because they continue to lose viewers (and Subscribers) who have joined the exodus and are getting their programming via "other means", such as Netflix, Hulu and one of my personal favorites, Amazon (They offer the added bonus of letting you KEEP a program after you've finished watching it!). Since I've mentioned my method of procuring programming I won't delve on it any further, but feel free to put YOUR "two cents worth".
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Ad nauseous
Revolutionary Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: Connecticut Status: Offline Points: 23601 |
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Our friends in town showed us Netflix after watching a movie. There were a lot to chose from. I think its the wave of the future IMHO.
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One good thing about TV-you could always turn it off
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Hellen
Junior Executive Joined: 19 Feb 2015 Location: DFW Status: Offline Points: 117 |
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Interesting that you mention internet based delivery, I was once a "dweeb" (nerd?) not sure what the word is these days, I think it is "neck-beard" that they use now. That is, I was on the "internet" when it was just text-based UseNet / FTP / Archie etc. before the "web"showed up. Before that, I grew up with three VHF channels and a few UHF channels, watched as pay TV "Cable" showed up, so I guess I have grown up in a very interesting time. I have done the NetFlix / Hulu thing, too, that was an amazing and welcome development, but the one thing that irks me is that no matter what, some way, some how, broadcasters will find a way to profit and get folks to pay out the nose for stuff that is (or should be) virtually free.
I guess my age and my curmudgeon are showing, but commercials, I hate....with a passion. I guess that's why I am here! I hope that I will fit in! |
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peachblossom666
Junior Executive Joined: 22 Nov 2014 Location: San Diego CA Status: Offline Points: 928 |
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Howdy, Hellen! Welcome to the forums. There are lots of curmudgeons here so you'll fit in just fine. Some of the folks get curmudgeonly with each other, but if you don't take it too personally, you'll have a fun time.
I remember being a little girl and it was said that one day people would have to pay to watch TV. At the time, it seemed preposterous. I'm still waiting for the flying automobiles like the Jetsons had. |
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regulus
Junior Executive Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Location: Nova Catacumba Status: Offline Points: 4436 |
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I remember when all the Movie Theaters ran a promo warning viewers that the programming they got for free would be taken away and only be available it you PAID for it, and said you could sign a petition that would ask lawmakers to BAN Pay-TV (You can find that promo on YouTube if you desire to see it). Their efforts failed, and in the late 1970s saw the growth of Pay-TV at a geometric rate! When Pay-TV arrived in my hometown 35 years ago I was like a kid on Christmas morning. Oh Boy! ALL MINE! 28 channels including HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel for $21.00 a month! Never again would there be "Nothing good on TV tonight". I wonder what the Theaters (And the OTA Stations and Networks) knew of something else that made its debut in the mid-1970s, Home Video. The first VCRs were as expensive as Hll (You could get a new car for CHEAPER!) and so were the movies put out by the studios (The first ones ran as much as $80.00 each!). It would be a about 20 years before you could purchase an entire TV series on home video, and the first ones were also expensive (The first one I purchased set me back $120.00 in 2002!) but prices for them have dropped as well, today you can find the first series I purchased ( Thunderbirds for the record) for less than 10% of what I shelled out for it in 2002. The price for Pay-TV hasn't fared so well, today what I payed $21.00 in 1980 would set me back almost $180.00 a month! (Without HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel, basic service would be about $150.00, way too rich for my blood). In 1980 you could watch a show and contend with 8-12 minutes of commercials an hour, less than half what's tossed at viewers these days. In 2002 my Video Library consisted of one TV show and about 50 movies (Mostly on VHS), today my current library consists of the following: TV Shows: 830 (38,596 Episodes) Movies: 2,428 Serials: 78 (1201 Chapters) Documentaries (Not including "Extras" that are included on many DVD/Blu-Ray Releases these days): 487 All obtained spending the same amount of money ($65.00 a month) I spent for Pay-TV when I quit subscribing in 2007! And yes, I'm a little bummed that one group of movies, the Back to the Future trilogy, is now dated, and I can't say "Roads? Where we're going we don't need, Roads!". |
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Poiuyt Power!!!
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Hellen
Junior Executive Joined: 19 Feb 2015 Location: DFW Status: Offline Points: 117 |
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If any of you guys are interested, the Internet Archive (archive.org) has tons of old TV shows for free, as well as tons of old radio shows, many with the original commercials...I know, I know, but those old commercials are a heck of a lot better than today's commercials.
My favorite is the old Dragnet radio shows, complete with commercials for Fatima or Chesterfield cigarettes. "NINE OUT OF TEN DOCTORS SMOKE FATIMA!!! AH, now THAT's more like it!" |
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regulus
Junior Executive Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Location: Nova Catacumba Status: Offline Points: 4436 |
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In the movie Sleeper 200 years from now smoking is found to be healthy! |
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MrTim
Ad Exec Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Status: Offline Points: 10421 |
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You do know what the next step will be, right? They'll also speed up the commercials so that they can fit more in...
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regulus
Junior Executive Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Location: Nova Catacumba Status: Offline Points: 4436 |
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I wouldn't be surprised at all if they did that, but people are already leaving Pay-TV and going to other sourced such as OTA TV (Yes, they do have commercials, but it's Free), or streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix and others. The fact is they can only put in so many commercials AND charge so much money to subscribers, and in the case of Pay-TV they're on the verge of what's called a "Price Plateau", after that is reached it doesn't matter if you charge higher fees and/or insert more commercials because people will decide it's no longer worth it. In other words they are pricing themselves off the market, and the whole system crashes. A Wall Street Guru has already downgraded Pay-TV Stock from "Worth Buying" (Or whatever the highest ranking is) to "Neutral". I don't know what the next lowest rank is, but I have a feeling it's not good. |
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Poiuyt Power!!!
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Zach6848
Junior Executive Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Location: Amishland, Ohio Status: Offline Points: 764 |
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I've deeply considered cutting out cable altogether, but I only really watch local news and football on TV anyway. If I want to watch a show, I'll watch it online. So basically I'm wasting money on two-hundred channels I don't even watch, just so I can watch local channels and ESPN. But that's where they stick you, anyway. If you could pick which channels you want to keep, they'd lose too much money, so they sell you these big bundles.
I'd get a digital antenna, but considering I live in the hills of Ohio, about 60 miles from the nearest broadcaster, I'd get near nothing. Eventually it'll get to the point where they'll have to shoehorn as many ads as possible between shows, just to make ends meet. A few favorites of mine are pharmaceutical ads and the 'FRACKING IS AWESOME' ads I keep seeing. They make me want to vomit profusely. |
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Ad nauseous
Revolutionary Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: Connecticut Status: Offline Points: 23601 |
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^ I feel your pain, the American Petroleum Institute is pulling out all the stops and bombarding us with the "Fracking is safe and making us energy independent" angle. Vomitorious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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One good thing about TV-you could always turn it off
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usmaak
Junior Executive Joined: 23 Dec 2014 Location: CO Status: Offline Points: 1571 |
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The more money that's involved, the less anyone cares about the people that have to live with the consequences.
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Zach6848
Junior Executive Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Location: Amishland, Ohio Status: Offline Points: 764 |
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I think anyone who believes that fracking is totally safe and an amazing source of energy, should go ask the people in West Virginia a few questions. Several people I know personally had relatives down there who had undrinkable tap-water for four or five weeks, tap-water that smelled awful and would burn if lit on fire. Safe, responsible and harmless? I think not. That's not even considering the idea that Ohio, a place not known for earthquake activity, has had two or three felt earthquake events since this sh*t began as common practice.
Now, some people might call me a tree-hugger, but even if you don't buy the climate change idea which has been proven time and time again by scientists worldwide, you must agree that flammable drinking water isn't good for people, right? But let's keep pumping billion-year old sunlight out of the ground for energy and the sake of the almighty dollar, until it dries up or destroys us. I'm not an idealist. I don't think solar panels and wind turbines will solve all of our problems. I believe, though, that if more were invested in energy research, we might find a solution to many of our issues. For the time being, solar panels and wind turbines are a decent start. |
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WDAN20
Commercial Hater Joined: 01 Mar 2012 Location: Columbus, Ohio Status: Offline Points: 27 |
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This speeding up stuff is nothing new. Back in the 1990s, Cartoon Network ran the colorized version of For Better or Worser (1935) Popeye cartoon at such a speed that everything ran so quickly, Olive sounded like a chipmunk, the cartoon topped at around six minutes instead of seven. Other cartoons were ran slightly faster than normal on that channel but For Better or Worser was the worst example that I remember.
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Harry's Termites and Furniture! Now with less furniture!
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EricTHoff
Junior Executive Joined: 16 Aug 2012 Location: California, MD Status: Offline Points: 196 |
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The FCC should regulate this so that speeding up tv shows would be illegal.
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Triple J
Honor Roll Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 3413 |
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Then they can air certain annoying ones four times during each break instead of only twice.
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Thor
Revolutionary Joined: 16 Apr 2008 Location: Rockaway, NJ Status: Offline Points: 63906 |
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What about the way they speed up the credits? |
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