Have you noticed how major broadcasters are running TV programs a minute early or late just to mess up your recording of the program? Now they advertise their programs to be start at a certain time, and end at a certain time. Is it legal for them to advertise the show starting and ending at a certain time, just to run the program a few minutes late/early?
Isn’t this false advertising? We pay for the content, and they are providing inaccurate information about their programming schedule.
I read the other day about one of the East coast states, forcing the movie theaters to properly inform when the movie actualy starts and not just when they start running the trailers and ads. Similar?
Is it really fair to Us that they are trying to make extra on their advertising fee’s by telling us inaccurately when our favorite show starts, or the movie we paid to see begins?
### from the AP
Networks try to foil TiVo with tiny schedule shifts
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Television networks are lending new meaning to time-shifting: TV shows don’t necessarily start or end right on the hour or half-hour anymore, screwing up some viewers’ video recordings.
More programs are running an extra minute or two longer to keep viewers from switching channels. Shows recently padded include CBS’s “Without a Trace,” Fox’s “Renovate My Family,” ABC’s “The Bachelor” and NBC’s “ER,” according to Nielsen Media Research.
The tactic has been used on and off for a few years but has grown more popular as competition in network television stiffens.
As a result of the overruns, people who use VCRs and digital video recorders like TiVos end up clipping the beginning or ending of a show. For some, the time conflict could also prevent a later show from being recorded.
TiVo Inc. officials say they have fielded a small number of complaints about the network time-shifting. This season, the company began advising its 2 million subscribers to watch out for such time conflicts and to adjust their recording settings manually.
-May Wong, AP Technology Writer.
