Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Simply Sloppiness or Something Sinister?


This is the conclusion to what was started with [Cable Television Ad-whacking], and it ain’t going to be all that.  For I just don’t have the energy to get into it as much as I would like to.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you have heard that far too many times before, but I have a new and improved excuse.  For in spite of my very poor normal state of health, I have started working on another top secret project.

No, I am not at liberty to divulge any details at this time.  After all, with it being a top secret project, the details are classified, but I can tell you that it could be something really big in a natural sense.  Hopefully, the launching will be much sooner than later, and you will most definitely be among the first to know.

Anyway, I can see where cable television ad-whacking could simply be a matter of production sloppiness.  For precise timing seems to be an art lost on those now in charge of broadcasting—both in regards to the airing of advertising and programming.

Does having to DVR the show after the one you wanted to record in order to make sure of getting all of it irritate you as much as it does us?  Oh, this is not a happy home when we forget to do this and find the recording of our show ending several minutes short of the actual end of the show.

On the other hand, I can also see where all of the imprecise timing issues could actually be something quite sinister.  For unless the monitoring is set to keep track of just how many seconds a commercial or program is aired, a two-second (or less) airing of a commercial would count the same as it would for the full amount of time the advertiser paid for.  Subsequently, an advertiser might be paying for a full two minutes of commercials to air during a certain show while only actually receiving 64 seconds of total air-time.  If the contract is for the airing of a certain amount of total air-time over a 24-hour period on a network, an advertiser could be paying for an hour of total air-time while only actually receiving 50 minutes (and sometimes far less).  Hey, I have lost count of how many times I have seen the same two-second start to a DealDash.com commercial on a certain network over the course of a day.

The same principle applies to counting how many people watch what, which is a major factor to determining the cost of advertising air-time.  For if the monitoring is set to count those who see even just the beginning or end of a show as being the same as if they watched it all, running shows over into the appointed air-time for another show can greatly add to the viewing totals, which justifies charging more for advertising on shows that 95% of the counted viewers deleted from their DVR after only watching the end of the show they actually wanted to see.  Oh yeah, you can put good money on the fact that the cable companies have the same ability to keep track of traffic numbers as internet sites do.

In all fairness, I just do not know—either way.  For all of my inquiries concerning timing issues were left unanswered.

Whoa, if my current top-secret project turns out to be as big of a deal as I think it could be, I just might be able to stir up some real trouble later on…  Ah yes, a boy must hold onto his dreams…

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10 comments:

  1. You trying to hack TV stations now...?

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Adullamite!!! No, but that gives me some ideas.

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  2. Welcome back. A publicly funded broadcaster? Catch-up TV?

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Mike!!! Hey, I have been back since April Fool's Day. Where have you been? (LOL?)

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  3. I've been disappointed to see that recorded programs have been cropped at the end, leaving me wondering what happened. You've got me curious about your top-secret project. Can't wait for the reveal.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Stephen!!! Be assured that I would love to fully spill the beans now. For I absolutely hate having to wait to give someone a present, but I really need to make sure of actually having a present to give before saying anymore about it. Hopefully, I will be able to at least talk about what I am having to learn in a couple of weeks or so, but since it took me three days to do what I watched an expert do in around 15 minutes...

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  4. I recently watched a recorded episode of Castle only to find the end cut off. I was not happy.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! Was it on ABC or one of the cable channels that airs re-runs? I do not remember ever seeing this happen on the major networks. That is, except for when a game runs over it scheduled time on the weekends. We usually set at least the next two shows past 60 Minutes to record on Sunday evenings.

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  5. Hmmmm...does this new project involve hip waders?

    I don't really watch TV anymore. There really isn't much on that is good and the commercials are insipid. I won't pay for cable that includes DVR because I am cheap and I doubt there is anything worth the effort to record anyway.

    (I sound 100 years old, don't I?) hee. hee!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Lin!!! If we were healthy enough to still get out and about, we wouldn't be watching nearly as much television as we do--be assured.

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