Don't you understand, that doesn't matter they can always stick 20 minutes of that in to the next episode and the first 20 minutes of the next story there too, and last 40 minutes in the third episode and it's taken 3 weeks to tell 2 hours of story.
Commercial break backlash in the UK?
- Thread starter 23skidoo
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Don't you understand, that doesn't matter they can always stick 20 minutes of that in to the next episode and the first 20 minutes of the next story there too, and last 40 minutes in the third episode and it's taken 3 weeks to tell 2 hours of story.
I have to think you'd have a hanging 20min. there somewhere.
How do they adapt BBC programmes to the States? Do they just cut out a random 15-min to stuff adverts in?
Of course British programming isn't perfect. Although movies are shown uncut most of the time they don't always pick clever moments like scene transitions for ad-breaks. I've actually seen dramatic scenes suddenly fade to black for an advert - what they couldn't wait a minute for a line of dialogue to finish?
On PBS: no ads.
I don't know how/if BBC America does things because I don't get that cable tier.
I haven't watched a theatrical movie on live TV for I don't know how long. Why would anyone do that? Just Netflix the sucker. And does anyone on TV still show movies? AMC sometimes. Do HBO and Showtime still bother? I would think that business is dead.
In the US they'll have a tough row to hoe with the production companies. "We want you to either take less money to make the show, or give us a cut of your DVD sales." Neither would go down well.
There's 2 or 3 things I've heard of happening. Shows like Spooks make a second edit where they rip out 15-20 minutes, Syfy even edited (badly) 2 or 3 minutes out of Doctor Who despite it being 45 minutes long or for the christmas special put it in an hour and half slot for 1 hour of show.
Occasionally as some sort of special event episodes will be shown without ads but that's not very common. The other thing is something I've heard BBC America do with Doctor Who is show unedited episodes on the first run, with a slightly longer hour and 10 minutes slot or something to fit in ads, then in future reruns edit them to fit.
Temis, why do you assume everyone can afford, or wants to watch movies often enough that a netflix/lovefilm subscription is a valid option for them? Of course they still show movies on TV.
Doctor Who's '45' varies a bit - some like the Beast Bellow are closer to 40, others closer to 50. As a result the Confidential Cutdowns tended to vary to make up the hour on BBC3 repeats. They'll be stuck now.
Jonathan Creek was cut to fit a US timeslot too. They accidentally used the edited version for the Region 2 DVDs for the last full series (later fixed)
The BBC did have a habit of cutting the ad break fades to black for Trek. So dramatic pauses on the DVDs weren't present on BBC transmission.
But that's nothing compared to how Encounter At Farpoint first went out...
Talking of movies on TV, James Bond has only ever been an TV experience for me, essentially an ITV institution. But then I've not seen the last two.
Movies on BBC1 and ITV aren't as common as they used to be, before there were dedicated channels.
Jonathan Creek was cut to fit a US timeslot too. They accidentally used the edited version for the Region 2 DVDs for the last full series (later fixed)
The BBC did have a habit of cutting the ad break fades to black for Trek. So dramatic pauses on the DVDs weren't present on BBC transmission.
But that's nothing compared to how Encounter At Farpoint first went out...
Talking of movies on TV, James Bond has only ever been an TV experience for me, essentially an ITV institution. But then I've not seen the last two.
Movies on BBC1 and ITV aren't as common as they used to be, before there were dedicated channels.
The idea of paying to stream rather than download movies has no appeal for me, personally and I don't like getting DVDs through the post or creating queues.
If I know about something I'll buy it, but the nice thing about movies on TV is that you don't know what's going to be shown so you get exposed to stuff you otherwise might not have heard about. Being able to watch a film uncut in its proper aspect with minimal ad breaks on broadcast TV was pretty cool.
You can't really blame ITV for trying to drain every last drop of advertiser pounds out of The X Factor, as all the other big-hitter ITV shows like the more popular drama series and soaps are nowhere near as popular with the demographics the advertisers are after like The X Factor is.
As for The X Factor "losing viewers" because of ad breaks, it is probably some journalist who knows nothing about TV ratings and how they work, just like they were saying Doctor Who was losing viewers but in actual fact was not because of PVR and VOD viewings. I found this chart on another forum, which shows the number of viewers in millions The X-Factor received on the 10 September 2011 show. It shows the dips across all methods of watching when the ad breaks come on, but mostly it recovers and increases the number of viewers it had from before the ad break.
VODSAL (VOSDAL, acronym misspelled in chart label) = Viewing-On-Same-Day-As-Live, those who watch a recording of a TV programme broadcast that day before 2am. Live + VOSDAL is the overnight figure BARB reports.
Consolidated = Live + VOSDAL + those who watch within seven days through PVR, Sky+, TiVO, VOD etc.
As for The X Factor "losing viewers" because of ad breaks, it is probably some journalist who knows nothing about TV ratings and how they work, just like they were saying Doctor Who was losing viewers but in actual fact was not because of PVR and VOD viewings. I found this chart on another forum, which shows the number of viewers in millions The X-Factor received on the 10 September 2011 show. It shows the dips across all methods of watching when the ad breaks come on, but mostly it recovers and increases the number of viewers it had from before the ad break.
VODSAL (VOSDAL, acronym misspelled in chart label) = Viewing-On-Same-Day-As-Live, those who watch a recording of a TV programme broadcast that day before 2am. Live + VOSDAL is the overnight figure BARB reports.
Consolidated = Live + VOSDAL + those who watch within seven days through PVR, Sky+, TiVO, VOD etc.
More precisely, no ads after a block at the beginning of the time slot that lasts at most a few minutes. The rest are at the end. Unless it's pledge week, maybe. Then, your show might get interrupted periodically while you're guilt-tripped into taking out your check book. But that's only a few times per year (or is it only once?).
Now, depending on the duration, some stuff might get cut, as has happened in the past. American TV is usually, but not always, pretty strict about starting and stopping shows on half-hour boundaries.
TNT and USA show movies too. TBS also.
I'm using my frakking public library which is FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!1!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Well OK, new releases are one dollar for 3 days. But the oldy modlies are free for one week, here. Late fees are a few nickels per day. Can check out up to 35 items at a time. It cost me nothing to get my card. I just showed a driver's license to sign up for my card, and minutes later I was walking out with an armful of films. Of course, beggars can't be choosers: you can put in requests, get on the list for the popular stuff, or just pick what's on the shelf.)
Right now I've checked out: Where the Wild Things Are, the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the restored Metropolis, and a volume of The Return of Sherlock Holmes from Granada Television.
A month ago I checked out almost every disk of nuBSG, which was more than I could watch. It's there anytime I get a hankerin' for it.
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Freesat+ Freeview Playback or whatever it's called now. Both do everything Sky Plus does minus the Sky stuff.
I pay $80/month for cable and $8/month for x1 DVD at Netflix, which has DVDs of everything I'd want to watch on cable, except for news.
So obviously, if I were hard up, I'd dump the cable and keep Netflix. The only reason I don't is a) for news (but frankly I can see all the news stories online now also) and b) to yack about shows here in a timely fashion. So TrekBBS is the only thing keeping me enslaved to Comcast's ridiculous fees.
The only way to get free TV is to limit yourself to broadcast networks but there's very little worth watching on broadcast. And even when something decent appears on broadcast (like Pan Am), the ratings end up sketchy. The same show could be a big hit on FX or AMC.
In the end, there's no free lunch.
However, I have belatedly remembered recording movies from cable stations, when AMC did an Oscars-winners tribute last February. That was great, I saw some old movies I never thought about. But I could easily have Netflixed em, and not needed to go to the trouble of zapping ads. And I wouldn't have been able to see AMC at all if I hadn't been subscribing to Comcast, which is a more expensive way of renting movies vs Netflix (assuming all I was doing was watching movies but like I said, my chief motive is to see cable series as they air so I can yack about them here.)
I love my Netflix queue! I have 300 DVDs there now. I like to rearrange them every so often so that all the types of things are evenly spaced. First, a DVD of a new series, then a new movie, then a DVD of an old series, then a documentary, then an old movie etc etc. I interweave all the series I'm following so that I get a DVD every third or fourth time. It appeals to my OCD side.
^The situation is quite different here in the UK. Lovefilm is somewhere between £6 with 2 hours of streaming to £10 for unlimited streaming and 1 disc at a time or £20 for 3 discs at a time and unlimited streaming.
Sky TV costs somewhere between £20 and £70(with DVR and HD I think). But crucially the difference is you can get 40+ channels free over the air, 140+ channels for free via satellite, plus catch up streaming for BBC and ITV.
But the main problem with streaming your TV or movies is almost every ISP has a limit of one form or another on their bandwidth allowance, whether it's a fair usage policy which limits the amount of bandwidth you can use on any given time frame or an absolute limit, you start streaming too much HD video content and you soon run in to that.
Of course, not everyone prefers to consume their content the same way you do. Personally I had LoveFilm and Sky and have since got rid of them both. Neither seemed worth the money on a monthly basis.
Sky TV costs somewhere between £20 and £70(with DVR and HD I think). But crucially the difference is you can get 40+ channels free over the air, 140+ channels for free via satellite, plus catch up streaming for BBC and ITV.
But the main problem with streaming your TV or movies is almost every ISP has a limit of one form or another on their bandwidth allowance, whether it's a fair usage policy which limits the amount of bandwidth you can use on any given time frame or an absolute limit, you start streaming too much HD video content and you soon run in to that.
Of course, not everyone prefers to consume their content the same way you do. Personally I had LoveFilm and Sky and have since got rid of them both. Neither seemed worth the money on a monthly basis.
If Netflix survives their Epic Corporate Fail campaign currently underway, maybe someday they'll come to the UK, too.
Despite all the squalling about them, in America Netflix is far the better deal vs extortionate cable rates. Free broadcast TV is virtually worthless now. Netflix is under attack precisely because it's such a good deal, undercutting people's motives to pay what Hollywood wants them to for a) theatrical releases and b) cable TV.
Movies on TV are very hit or miss; I can line up every new theatrical release on Netflix as I hear about them (usually months before DVD release), but when and how would I ever find out if a particular movie is playing on TV? And movies tend to be shown on cable anyway, rather than broadcast, so they can't be counted as "free" or even cheap.
Despite all the squalling about them, in America Netflix is far the better deal vs extortionate cable rates. Free broadcast TV is virtually worthless now. Netflix is under attack precisely because it's such a good deal, undercutting people's motives to pay what Hollywood wants them to for a) theatrical releases and b) cable TV.
Movies on TV are very hit or miss; I can line up every new theatrical release on Netflix as I hear about them (usually months before DVD release), but when and how would I ever find out if a particular movie is playing on TV? And movies tend to be shown on cable anyway, rather than broadcast, so they can't be counted as "free" or even cheap.
Wow! We only get five free channels and they're hardly worth bothering with.
If Netflix survives their Epic Corporate Fail campaign currently underway, maybe someday they'll come to the UK, too.
Despite all the squalling about them, in America Netflix is far the better deal vs extortionate cable rates. Free broadcast TV is virtually worthless now. Netflix is under attack precisely because it's such a good deal, undercutting people's motives to pay what Hollywood wants them to for a) theatrical releases and b) cable TV.
Movies on TV are very hit or miss; I can line up every new theatrical release on Netflix as I hear about them (usually months before DVD release), but when and how would I ever find out if a particular movie is playing on TV? And movies tend to be shown on cable anyway, rather than broadcast, so they can't be counted as "free" or even cheap.
Wow! We only get five free channels and they're hardly worth bothering with.
Off the top of my head there's maybe 25 free channels that may have some decent programming on depending on your tastes.
BBC One, Two, Three, Four, ITV 1, 2, 3, 4, Channel 4, E4, More 4, Film 4, Channel 5, 5*, Five US, Dave, Really, Yesterday, CBS Action, CBS Drama, CBS Reality, Horror Channel, Quest. Pick TV.
Shows like Walking Dead, True Blood, Archer, Damages, Dexter, Rome, Tudors etc have all been shown on those free channels.
Well LoveFilm is basically our version of Netflix, DVD rental and streaming via blu-ray players, ps3, xbox soon, etc. Netflix have been rumoured to be coming here but never have, same with Hulu.
PS, here's a clever example of the kinds of ways cable shows movies now: AMC's Fearfest (slogan: "Gory matters here." ) to promo the season premiere of The Walking Dead. They're making a big deal about it, are they trying to compensate for the Darabount snafu?
But it's not a substitute for Netflix's ability to easily give me exactly what I want. It's mainly a bunch of old horror movies, not new releases. So if I wanted to see, say, Zombieland (currently languishing in my queue at #83, shame on me, let's bump that up...) then I'd be SOL.
OTOH, I've never heard of Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane. Sounds like must see TV!
) to promo the season premiere of The Walking Dead. They're making a big deal about it, are they trying to compensate for the Darabount snafu?But it's not a substitute for Netflix's ability to easily give me exactly what I want. It's mainly a bunch of old horror movies, not new releases. So if I wanted to see, say, Zombieland (currently languishing in my queue at #83, shame on me, let's bump that up...) then I'd be SOL.
OTOH, I've never heard of Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane. Sounds like must see TV!
Netflix used to be in the UK and folded, but rumour has it they've been preparing a return for the past couple of years. I'm very disappointed in the online offering for them and LoveFilm - mainly seems to be TV shows with a lot of recent films missing in action.
LoveFilm's pricing of a time-based stream limit seems a bit lame to me. I mean if I go for the 2hrs. one does that mean I cannot stream any film that's over 2 hours in length? Would it not make more sense to just apply the DVD post limit, i.e., two films outstanding or two films to stream rather than a time-based allowance?
I'd honestly rather rent from the iTunes store - at least that's a model that immediately makes sense to me, though it too suffers from a catalogue with gaping holes due to the movie industry's reluctance to jump into the online thing with both feet.
LoveFilm's pricing of a time-based stream limit seems a bit lame to me. I mean if I go for the 2hrs. one does that mean I cannot stream any film that's over 2 hours in length? Would it not make more sense to just apply the DVD post limit, i.e., two films outstanding or two films to stream rather than a time-based allowance?
I'd honestly rather rent from the iTunes store - at least that's a model that immediately makes sense to me, though it too suffers from a catalogue with gaping holes due to the movie industry's reluctance to jump into the online thing with both feet.
Hey that's not fair! Americans have to pay for every one of those! (All of those are on basic or premium cable channels).
Funny how you didn't list anything from a free channel. I suppose that says something too.
But to bring this thread back around to the point - there was a point around here somewhere - if you have to watch ads to see those shows, don't complain, because at least you're not watching ads and paying a cable subscription too! And you can always zap the ads.
What? Did I read that right? Am I paying for someone in another country to watch The Walking Dead for free? What kind of a world is this?