Curse you to heck CBS--football over-runs and stupid execs

CBS network execs take viewers for granted and push shows around after football

from JoeUser Forums

In another location I frequent, I started a healthy discussion about CBS and their idiotic handling of football over-runs that have caused many people with DVRs to miss large portions of CBS programming over the last few weekends in some markets.  In several markets football over-runs have caused CBS programs in the eastern markets of the country (actually most markets except the west coast) to air at odd times that are keyed to the end of the football games, rather than to promised time slots.

CBS insists on airing their venerable 60 Minutes program in it's entireity no matter what.  Because of that, shows like The Amazing Race get pushed back by 13 minutes, or 37 minutes, or whatever time the football game ends (give or take a commercial break at the end of the football game).  Once that show ends, well, the next show starts 60 minutes later.  Then finally, 60 minutes after that for the final prime time show in CBS' line-up.

If one enjoys all of CBS' programming, then it is not that big a deal.  Cold Case is a fine show, as is Without a Trace, but in my household, and that of many others, those shows are not part of our regular viewing pattern while The Amazing Race (assuming it airs close to on-time) is.

Nothing sucks more than bringing up the list of recorded programs on your DVR to find that half of a show is not there, or that you have to fast forward through a large part of 60 minutes just to get to the beginning of The Amazing Race, and then you have to waste 30 minutes, or perhaps as much as an hour, of hard drive recording space to catch the entire show and a small portion of the show that follows it (Cold Case).

FOX used to catch my wrath over this stupid scheduling.  For the last several years they had screwed over fans of King of the Hill, and other shows on Sunday nights, especially during football season.  This season they got smart, scheduled "The OT" which is a football wrap up show.  In doing that, FOX smartly fills the block of time between 7pm and 7:59:59pm (eastern time) with highlights, football news, and other breaking news as necessary (primarily football related).  Fans that haven't flipped over to Football Night in America over on NBC get a nice wrap up and get it FOX style.  After that, they can stick around and catch the FOX Sunday night comedies.  This has worked very well for them, and it's kept their Sunday prime-time line-up on schedule.

That has been a huge boost for DVR users.  The DVR users, VCR programmers (yes, a few people can do that trick), and even those that are used to tuning in at a certain time to a certain channel are able to catch the FOX programs on time.

ABC airs their programs without worries about sports over-runs as they typically don't have sports programs airing on Sundays that will conflict with their programming schedule.

And NBC, well, they have football and a football related show to air that mean they'll be on schedule too.

All of this means that the lone hold-out, the I D I O T S at CBS (I have a few other words for them too, something about tools, thorny types from roses, jerks, and just plain morons) continue to screw over their potential customers.

For that, I say curse you to heck CBS.  You've lost me as a viewer for many of your programs just because of the last few weeks.  You screw me over on what time to watch the shows I want to see, and you arrogantly assume I'll be your slave and only watch your network on Sunday nights.

Too bad for you that I'd rather see other networks' offerings.  Family Guy (FOX), Desperate Housewives (ABC), and other programs.  Even with two-tuner DVRs, and even with additional tuners via an MCE box in my viewing area, I'm not going to go out of my way to see CBS' programs.  In the immortal words of Cartman (South Park), "screw you guys."

13,585 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

Just a few samples of my comments elsewhere:

How nice of {someone defending CBS and instructing others to just tune in to the entire night of CBS programming and add additional time to DVR recordings to cover the over-runs} to assume that all viewers should be slaved to CBS and only watching that channel for all of the night.

Too bad that isn't the case and other networks and channels offer better programming (in my opinion, and in the minds of some others) for the other time slots.

For example, there's, uh, this show called Desperate Housewives that my wife likes. There's Family Guy that I like. There's football on NBC. Getting the picture yet?

What's so hard about networks airing shows when they promise? (within reason). Again, there are things outside their control, including the potential end time for football games, baseball games and the like. That's fine, but for gosh sakes, stop trying to tell the eastern part of the country that you'll be airing something at 8pm if there's not a chance in hell it'll make that time slot and is far more likely to be airing at 8:30.

Again, I'd have no issue at all with the rest of the shows in the night being adjusted along the way, say down to 40 minutes or some such. Just tell me -- actually make that tell my DVR, but for those without them, tell them -- when the shows are really going to air.

To get things straight again in the TV viewer and TV network relationship:

1. TV network promises to air shows at specific times, on specific days.
2. TV networks require viewers to tolerate the airing of commercials so that the shows that are aired can be paid for.
3. TV viewers are obligated to deal with commercials during the airing of the shows.
4. TV viewers are obligated to tune in at the times that the shows are shown so they can see the shows they want to see.

Pretty darned simple relationship and rules for how it all is supposed to work, but to me CBS is violating the implied contract they make when they tell the guide data providers, and the TV guide publishers and such that they'll be airing something at a specific time.

For many CBS is doing nothing wrong and this is all much ado about nothing, but for some of us we've had all we can stand and we can't stands no more. We're mad as hell and we just can't take it.

In my house it's all being easily resovled by cutting season passes for CBS shows so they lose the viewership that they previously had. Do they care? Probably not, but then again they get data from TiVo, Nielsen and others that tell them that people aren't watching their product. Hopefully more people will tune them out over time.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ya thinkit is the AFL/AFC Influence?  After all, back in 68, NBC had them, and we all know about the Heidi Game (Of which I was watching it, but I was West coast! )
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
All the more reason to buy the DVDs of shows you like.

I think there should be a network for each kind of sport. They could show repeats in the off seasons.

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
The DVR thing isn't something ABC or anyone else in their business cares about. Actually, networks have been known to tweak their schedules to FOIL people who want to use their DVRs, mainly because people who do can skip the commercials. If you are looking for DVR sympathy, don't look to the commercial networks, they hate you for using one.

Where they want this to go is digital 'on demand' TV, where you can watch any of their shows any time you want... without the ability to skip commercials. They are having limited success, but they can't impose enough on the technology industry to overcome the sheer demand for ways around commercials.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

You're close, but not quite correct, about not caring about the DVR business Baker.  FOX has a financial interest in the DVR business doing well.  Through their DirecTV unit they sell DVR services to their customers.  No useful DVR service = no reason to stay with DirecTV (except for their NFL Sunday Ticket football package).

ABC has financial interest in the shows they can sell you on iTunes, so I can understand them not wanting to keep things too convenient for the DVR crowd, *except* again there is financial interest because DVR viewers are tracked and are included in program ratings and viewership numbers and the tracking that is done (anonymously and through aggregates and such) also indicates whether or not commercials are being seen, skipped, etc., which is about the same as having a large focus group to judge reactions to commercials, viewing habits, and a lot of other useful marketing information that the networks and programmers use.

On Demand is where most of this will eventually go, but in the meantime it is not just the DVR users that get screwed by idiots like the folks running CBS Sunday night schedule currently -- it's the audience that is there strictly for 60 Minutes, or strictly for The Amazing Race, or Cold Case, etc.  The people that are trying to use the information printed in their TV guides and newspaper's TV listings to tune in on time and ready to watch their favorite programs.

CBS can ignore those viewers if they want, but eventually those viewers will (as I have done) get fed up with them and turn elsewhere.  I've started nuking things off my viewing list that are on the CBS network.  I hope they enjoy seeing the decline in the DVR user ratings and hope they enjoy the fruit of their own stupidity.