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Network Scheduling to Mess with Tivo

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the anyone-else-anyed-by-this-one dept.

Yahoo is running a bit about Networks messing with PVRs by adding a minute to shows. If a show runs to 9:01, then you can't Tivo a show on another channel that starts at 9. I've noticed this, although it's less of a factor if you have a dual tuner tivo, but it's interesting to see a bit of mainstream coverage.

5 of 525 comments (clear)

  1. So what? by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Ever since I started using a VCR I've been the recording from 2 or 3 minutes before the show starts to 2 or 3 minutes after it ends to make up for the VCR time not being consistant with the show time.

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    Technoli
  2. nothing new by drteknikal · · Score: 0, Redundant

    TBS Superstation (WTBS, at least originally) started shows at 5 minutes after the hour starting back in the early 80s. They had the same idea 20 years ago.

    This is not news.

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    http://drteknikal.blogspot.com/
  3. Re:Interesting, but not a problem for most by pseudolus · · Score: 0, Redundant
    for multi-tuner PVRs it is not at all an issue.

    Sure it is. I routinely have two shows recording simultaneously at 8 pm and at least one more that starts at 9. If one of those first two runs over by a minute, I miss the 9 pm show and I'm just as upset as someone who owns a single-tuner TiVo. Especially on Wednesdays, because apparently Wednesday is the new Thursday.

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    Anything is possible given sufficient time and money.
  4. Re:The network's explination.. by jmharvey · · Score: 0, Redundant

    They say it's to put in more commercials and not to disrupt TiVo. CNN had a story about it a while back. They didn't believe it either.

    TNT runs back-to-back episodes of Law and Order so that the credits for one episode run at the bottom of the screen during the opening scene of the next one. Since they run the same episode two days in a row, it seems unlikely that this is actually a nefarious plot to screw with TiVo. So at least part of the motivation must come from fitting in more commercials.

    A number of networks have stopped airing commercials between the end of one show and the beginning of the next. (As opposed to a few years ago, when it was standard to take commercial breaks both before AND after the end credits). Apparently the networks found that this 5-minute break trained their viewers to flip to another station, and viewers that have seen part of a show are more likely to return to that station.

    So mangling minutes in the schedule allows for more ads, higher viewer retention, and screws with TiVo, to boot. Why wouldn't a network do it?

  5. Re:Not Just TiVos by keenjanine · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Last show I was addicted to was 24 and I only saw it 50% of the time. Does that mean you were really watching 12?