SOT Advert Breaks...

In article ,
Scott wrote:
What's happened is ITV have unified the actual times the ads happen -
to prevent channel hopping when they come on. Which means crashing in
and out of progs not made specifically for these times, as they're too
mean to re-edit them properly. It looks like amateur time at the zoo...

What do you mean 'unified the actual times'? Unified from what?
Surely the ads were always at the same time in each ITV Region if the
same programme was being shown? I can't imaging that STV would show
the ads during The Bill at a different time from Granada. In any
event very few people can watch more than one ITV Region anyway and
most of the time they are showing the same programmes.

Unified across the channels under their control. So they all go to a break
at exactly the same time. Before there was some tolerance allowed for each
part of a show. Now they simply crash in and out of it - unless it's been
made to the new standard. And it doesn't half show - you get breaks in the
middle of a scene on ITV3, etc.

--
*24 hours in a day ... 24 beers in a case ... coincidence? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Dec 3, 8:38 pm, Scott wrote:

Okay but in these days (of analogue TV) how many people had a choice
of ITV Region to watch and why would you channel hop if they wre
showing different episodes of the same series?

A friend of my Dad's would flick from Southern ITV to Thames during
the ad break on Crossroads.
More often than not his wife didn't notice she was watching a
different 'Part 2' :-)

In article , Paul D.Smith wrote:
....snip...
[...]It's worth it*
just to
watch the programme without interruptions.

Rod.


And you need 40 minutes to watch an "hour long" programme ;-).

Yes, and a two hour programme usually ends up at about 90 minutes. With
practice it need only take about 5-10 minutes to whittle it down to its true
running length, so not only do I get to watch the programme as its makers
intended, but I save a bit of time as well. It's quite astonishing to realise
how much time used to be wasted sitting through expensively produced
entreaties to buy things I neither need nor want.

Rod.

On Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:44:13 GMT, Paul Heslop
wrote:

Roderick Stewart wrote:

In article , ChrisM wrote:
Anyolne noticed that quite a few channels now don't indicate the end of the
ad break - especially with films. It just goes from the last advert straight
back into the film. I'm sure they used to play a little tune or something
between the ads and the restart of the film...
The cynic in me says its to encourage you watch the adverts 'cause if you're
in the kitchen making a cuppa, you won't know when the film has started
again, and you're likely to miss a minute or two...

I assume it's to make it more difficult to find an edit point when spooling
through at high speed on your PVR. Without an easily recognisable sponsor's
caption I sometimes hit the reverse button a bit late so it takes a little
longer to spool back to the exact frame. But I persevere. It's worth it just to
watch the programme without interruptions.

Rod.

Yeah, i think you have it right. I normally look for that little
blackout section after the caption or prog title to edit cleanly and
it is getting harder to find.

It's probably also to make it very difficult to automate the removal
of adverts.

M

ChrisM wrote:
Anyolne noticed that quite a few channels now don't indicate the end of the
ad break - especially with films. It just goes from the last advert straight
back into the film. I'm sure they used to play a little tune or something
between the ads and the restart of the film...
The cynic in me says its to encourage you watch the adverts 'cause if you're
in the kitchen making a cuppa, you won't know when the film has started
again, and you're likely to miss a minute or two...


Makes them harder to scan/skip past when watching
recorded versions too.

BugBear

Mark wrote:

On Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:44:13 GMT, Paul Heslop
wrote:

Roderick Stewart wrote:

In article , ChrisM wrote:
Anyolne noticed that quite a few channels now don't indicate the end of the
ad break - especially with films. It just goes from the last advert straight
back into the film. I'm sure they used to play a little tune or something
between the ads and the restart of the film...
The cynic in me says its to encourage you watch the adverts 'cause if you're
in the kitchen making a cuppa, you won't know when the film has started
again, and you're likely to miss a minute or two...

I assume it's to make it more difficult to find an edit point when spooling
through at high speed on your PVR. Without an easily recognisable sponsor's
caption I sometimes hit the reverse button a bit late so it takes a little
longer to spool back to the exact frame. But I persevere. It's worth it just to
watch the programme without interruptions.

Rod.

Yeah, i think you have it right. I normally look for that little
blackout section after the caption or prog title to edit cleanly and
it is getting harder to find.

It's probably also to make it very difficult to automate the removal
of adverts.

M

Yep, but mainly I'd say just to make it a royal pain in the ass. I
wonder what they have done with that system which was supposed to stop
us being able to turn over during ad breaks?

--
Paul (We won't die of devotion)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

In message ,
bugbear Proclaimed from the tallest
tower:

ChrisM wrote:
Anyolne noticed that quite a few channels now don't indicate the end
of the ad break - especially with films. It just goes from the last
advert straight back into the film. I'm sure they used to play a
little tune or something between the ads and the restart of the
film... The cynic in me says its to encourage you watch the adverts
'cause
if you're in the kitchen making a cuppa, you won't know when the
film has started again, and you're likely to miss a minute or two...


Makes them harder to scan/skip past when watching
recorded versions too.

BugBear

Extrapolating that logic forward a bit, does it cost more to have an advert
at then end of the commercial break then??

--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)

On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:28:49 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Scott wrote:
What's happened is ITV have unified the actual times the ads happen -
to prevent channel hopping when they come on. Which means crashing in
and out of progs not made specifically for these times, as they're too
mean to re-edit them properly. It looks like amateur time at the zoo...

What do you mean 'unified the actual times'? Unified from what?
Surely the ads were always at the same time in each ITV Region if the
same programme was being shown? I can't imaging that STV would show
the ads during The Bill at a different time from Granada. In any
event very few people can watch more than one ITV Region anyway and
most of the time they are showing the same programmes.

Unified across the channels under their control. So they all go to a break
at exactly the same time. Before there was some tolerance allowed for each
part of a show. Now they simply crash in and out of it - unless it's been
made to the new standard. And it doesn't half show - you get breaks in the
middle of a scene on ITV3, etc.

Four out of 30 Freeview or 300 satellite channels. That will stop
channel hopping dead in its tracks.

In article ,
Mike Henry wrote:
In , "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article , Scott
wrote: Unified across the channels under
their control. So they all go to a break at exactly the same time.
Before there was some tolerance allowed for each part of a show. Now
they simply crash in and out of it - unless it's been made to the new
standard. And it doesn't half show - you get breaks in the middle of a
scene on ITV3, etc.

I thought that having a break in the middle of a scene was a breach of
Ofcom rules...

Oh they don't go back to the same scene. Just chop some of it out.

--
*Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Scott wrote:
Unified across the channels under their control. So they all go to a
break at exactly the same time. Before there was some tolerance allowed
for each part of a show. Now they simply crash in and out of it -
unless it's been made to the new standard. And it doesn't half show -
you get breaks in the middle of a scene on ITV3, etc.

Four out of 30 Freeview or 300 satellite channels. That will stop
channel hopping dead in its tracks.

Seems to include the CH5 lot too. Not sure about Ch4.

--
*Ah, I see the f**k-up fairy has visited us again

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.