topic Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads ••• in Community Chat

••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

newziesuzie — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:04:35 GMT

http://www.businessinsider.com/cable-networks-speeding-up-your-favorite-shows-to-squeeze-in-more-ads-2015-2

"Cable networks — like Time Warner Inc. properties TNT and TBS — have been found to be using compression technology on movies and TV shows to squeeze in more commercials, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Viewers say they have been able to notice the difference because voices sound noticeably higher.

Among the shows found to be sped up: the popular sitcom "Seinfeld," and "Law & Order."

The latter's opening sequence was also shortened to 24 seconds from 1 minute, 45 seconds to accommodate more ads.

This is done, The Journal says, because cable networks still need to "meet audience guarantees made to advertisers," and throwing in more ads helps boost revenue as ad prices continue to fall.

A Nielsen study of prime-time cable TV from December 2014 cited by The Journal seems to bolster these facts.

The A&E Network, for example, showed almost three more minutes of commercials during each night of prime time than it did over the same period a year ago. The

History Channel added over two additional minutes.

On many cable networks, including Viacom's MTV and Spike, "non-programming content" accounts for one-third of each hour.

The Journal says broadcast networks have also added more commercial time per hour, but the increases aren't quite as large as what you would find on today's cable networks.

Some experts say speeding up content to fit in more ads will only hurt cable, motivating people to start watching TV through non-traditional "cord-cutting" services like Netflix and driving down ratings.

The head of one major TV studio told The Journal "it has gotten completely out of control. I'm concerned when you look at the performance being diminished and hurt by their running the shows that way."

Read the full story over at The Journal."

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

tishkins — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:40:11 GMT

Tell me if I am wrong,but when cable first came on the scene wasn't it suppose to be commercial free or very few .

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

terrier3 — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:43:54 GMT

On 3/4/2015 tishkins said: Tell me if I am wrong,but when cable first came on the scene wasn't it suppose to be commercial free or very few .

That was just the premium channels - the ones you pay extra to receuve like HBO and Showtime.

Cable networks have always had commercials....I sold them for over 20 years!

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

brii — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 13:17:38 GMT

I fast forward or change the channel during commercials. Very rarely watch them anyway.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

YorkieonmyPillow — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 15:35:36 GMT

They've been doing this for many years, noticed it a long time ago when I would watch a program - you could tell it had been sped up. Quit watching.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

TaxyLady — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 15:39:56 GMT

The MLB is actually speeding up the baseball game in order to break for commercials. They are instilling time rules.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

terrier3 — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 15:41:43 GMT

On 3/4/2015 TaxyLady said:
The MLB is actually speeding up the baseball game in order to break for commercials. They are instilling time rules.

Hockey did this a few years ago too.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

newziesuzie — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 15:58:14 GMT

This is crazy, TV shows are going to look like fast cartoons and the actors with high pitched voices lol!

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

circles — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 16:04:26 GMT

All the ads have made watching any programming annoying....so much interrupting takes the fun of anything I tune into...and they are so LOUD...I have to keep my remote next to me to turn it down when the ads come on and then back up to hear what I tuned in for...

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

reese2 — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 16:11:05 GMT

On 3/4/2015 brii said:
I fast forward or change the channel during commercials. Very rarely watch them anyway.

We rarely watch anything "live" anymore, for this very reason. I have noticed that it takes longer to FF through the commercials to get back to the shows, though, and I mentioned it to my husband. I thought it was my imagination but I guess not.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

MaggieToo — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 16:25:55 GMT

My cable bill has just gone up again. I'd like to just have it shut off all together, but I watch TV all night when I can't sleep. (Which is nearly every night)

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

TaxyLady — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 16:28:40 GMT

I find myself avoiding channels that have commercials all the time. I don't mind if it is between shows but I hate being interrupted during a show.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

dmod nj — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 16:40:34 GMT

On 3/4/2015 circles said:
All the ads have made watching any programming annoying....so much interrupting takes the fun of anything I tune into...and they are so LOUD...I have to keep my remote next to me to turn it down when the ads come on and then back up to hear what I tuned in for...

Hi circles,

I agree. The differences in the volume, between the show and the commercials, are very noticeable.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

wildcherry — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 17:09:40 GMT

This is why I rarely watch my favorite shows in real time. I record shows and fast forward through the commercials. There are so many commercials, it is beyond irritating. My DVR is the best thing I ever bought.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

LilacTree — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 17:21:05 GMT

I've noticed on most network shows, it's 10 and 10. Ten minutes of show, ten minutes of commercials. That's the worst, some are a little better. I give props to CNN, when there is important news, they ditch the commercials altogether.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

redtabby — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 17:41:35 GMT

Years ago I noticed that syndicated shows had scenes cut to allow for more ads. M*A*S*H is one of my favorite shows and it has been chopped up for syndication, especially the little moments at the end that were not important to the storyline. I also noticed, back in the 90s, that intros were shortened, so this is nothing new.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

terrier3 — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 18:02:35 GMT

On 3/4/2015 Ford1224 said:
I've noticed on most network shows, it's 10 and 10. Ten minutes of show, ten minutes of commercials. That's the worst, some are a little better. I give props to CNN, when there is important news, they ditch the commercials altogether.

I was selling cable advertising back on 9/11.

All the cable news networks stopped running commercials. CNN had no commercials for almost a week.

The irony was that when their ratings were the highest ever, they had no revenue from commercials.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

sfnative — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 19:37:38 GMT

On 3/4/2015 YorkieonmyPillow said:
They've been doing this for many years, noticed it a long time ago when I would watch a program - you could tell it had been sped up. Quit watching.

Yup, donkeys years. Plus, I was watching some program yesterday evening and their commercial breaks in this one hour show were 5 minutes in length. Not going there any more!

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

sfnative — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 19:41:10 GMT

One of the worst offenders is ABS's Family channel when they show Harry Potter movies. Movie runs from 8-11: an entire 3 hours and we know darn well the television broadcast of those movies contains at least one hour of commercials.

Re: ••• Cable Networks Speeding Up Your Favorite Shows To Squeeze In More Ads •••

terrier3 — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 19:46:30 GMT

The WORST offender are local TV news programs.

Inventory in prime time is strictly controlled by the network.

The local station controls all the time in their newscasts. I have seen breaks of 7 :30 commercials IN A ROW...before they get back to the ""news.""

Sports used to be 3 minute blocks - now it's 90 seconds.

More room to make money from commercials!