ABC attempting to thwart TiVo users?
 

What's up with the non-standard times? I can't think of a reason other than
screwing up DVR users. Thoughts?



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What's up with the non-standard times? I can't think of a reason other
than
screwing up DVR users. Thoughts?

I find ABC's crappy programming to be a greater reason not to watch anything
on the network.

What's up with the non-standard times? I can't think of a reason other than
screwing up DVR users. Thoughts? BRBR


It's nothing new. NBC has been doing that for years on Thursday.

Believe me, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with screwing over DVR users. It
has EVERYTHING to do with advertising. By squeezing more advertising time into
hot shows (Lost, Housewives) they can charge a higher rate than they could in
the shows that follow it.

"RKRM" shaped the electrons to say:
What's up with the non-standard times? I can't think of a reason other than
screwing up DVR users. Thoughts?

DVR users are *WAY* too small a minority to bother screwing with.

This is about ad revenue and competition. By messing with their start
and end times they can sell maybe a couple more ads in their highly
rated, and highly priced, shows. It also helps keep people from
switching to other networks because they've missed a minute, etc.

-MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

MegaZone ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
This is about ad revenue and competition. By messing with their start
and end times they can sell maybe a couple more ads in their highly
rated, and highly priced, shows.

This is also why most (all?) networks have gone to a system where one
show ends and then there are no paid ads (only previews if anything)
between shows. An ad "inside" a show is worth more than one "between"
shows.

--
Jeff Rife | "Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But
SPAM bait: | then you get to the end and a gorilla starts
| throwing barrels at you."
| -- Philip J. Fry, "Futurama"

"MegaZone" wrote in message
...

DVR users are *WAY* too small a minority to bother screwing with.

I agree, but...

This is about ad revenue and competition. By messing with their start
and end times they can sell maybe a couple more ads in their highly
rated, and highly priced, shows. It also helps keep people from
switching to other networks because they've missed a minute, etc.

I'm not sure I buy that.

If I'm a loyal fan of both Lost and West Wing, I'm going to find a way to
record or watch them both. DVR or no DVR. So in that case, they haven't
really accomplished anything. They haven't kept me on ABC. They've just
annoyed viewers. And not just viewers with TiVo. Any viewers who want to
watch both shows -- so maybe DVR users are a minority, but people who are
fans of both show certainly aren't -- both shows are very popular (and
probably have a lot of crossover fans). And, as I mentioned, if someone
wants to watch both shows, they're going to watch both shows (switching and
maybe missing a minute). But that still means one of the networks is going
to lose that viewer and that viewer is not going to see the ads. And if the
viewers aren't watching the ads, what's the point?

So I understand the advertising argument, but I think it is flawed. It all
falls apart if people don't watch the ads.

And Lost vs. West Wing -- what are they thinking? Both of these shows have
loyal fans. Obviously they're not going to convince someone who watches both
religiously to stay on ABC just because it's 9:01. And I don't think
"casual" or occasional watchers (non-fans of either show -- the only ones
they could hope to hook and snare away from a channel change) are likely to
tune into Lost. "Hmm, what's this interesting show that's been going on all
season but that I've never seen? I have no context at all and I know nothing
about the storyline, but I think I'll watch it... hmm, why are these people
stuck on an island? Well, I guess I can stop thinking about that because
golly, now it's 9:01, and wow, The Bachelor really has a lot of crossover
appeal for people who like Lost, so gee, I think I'll watch that, too. In
fact, I think I'll throw away my remote and stay on ABC for the rest of my
life."

I wonder if, in response to this, NBC would decide to start West Wing at
9:02 ;-)

"Howard" . wrote in message
...

However, some DVR users are Nielsen families, and I don't just mean the
deal with TiVo, I mean in the traditional sense.

Not that I would actually name names or anything. Let's just leave it at
the networks should be a little more careful in regards to whom they
annoy.
The ad dollars trick won't work without the numbers, and when they play
silly buggers with the schedule, they may not get the numbers they might
have gotten otherwise.

Human nature being what it is, you may be right in a small number of cases.
But if you've agreed to do a Nielsen diary, then you should put down exactly
what you watched. The fact that the network ****ed you off should not
preclude you from putting down that you were, in fact, tuned to a particular
network during a particular time.

I may have missed the point of your post entirely, and if so, apologies.

--
Dave

Not that I would actually name names or anything. Let's just leave it at
the networks should be a little more careful in regards to whom they
annoy.
The ad dollars trick won't work without the numbers, and when they play
silly buggers with the schedule, they may not get the numbers they might
have gotten otherwise.

Human nature being what it is, you may be right in a small number of cases.
But if you've agreed to do a Nielsen diary, then you should put down exactly
what you watched. The fact that the network ****ed you off should not
preclude you from putting down that you were, in fact, tuned to a particular
network during a particular time.

I may have missed the point of your post entirely, and if so, apologies.

I think the point here is: if ABC plays cute games with their show
lengths, those doing a Nielsen diary, along with people that aren't,
will get ****ed off and quit watching that network entirely (and the
diary will reflect that).

Does a Nielsen diary ever accept more information (and actually DO
something with it) than what you watched?

("I watched Survivor: Active Volcano and thought it was the worst
ever", or "I didn't watch ABC Schedule Twister because I'd already
missed the first two minutes of it due to their nutty scheduling").

Gordon L. Burditt

I think two things will happen. There will be those up front who stop
watching ABC or NBC to try to send a signal to the networks that they're
ticked off by the screwing of the schedule. Those numbers, I think, will be
pretty small (not that they don't have a reason to complain).

I think that the bigger picture is people, in general, coming to the point
that TV is too much trouble to watch. TV *should* be one of the
easiest/laziest things we do. If your average person in the work place is
trying to remember to record their favorite show a few minutes before or
after the hour and they miss an important part of the show because of the
time-shifting by the networks, I think they'll just give up. TV is about
laziness. If you start adding annoyances to the mix I don't think it'll work
(in the long run). Right now it's just annoying but not widespread enough.

I think it's funny, too, when you look back 10 years at when they started
adding the little network 'bugs' (logos) constantly over each show at the
bottom right of the screen. At first it was really annoying, now no one even
notices them. They're there but so what? They (the stations/networks) were
much better off back when the did the 'station identification' stuff. Now
their little logo is just part of the 'noise' and my mind filters it out.

Brad

I had a message the other day on my TiVo warning about this..

RKRM wrote:

What's up with the non-standard times? I can't think of a reason other than
screwing up DVR users. Thoughts?



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