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Why is it like this? TV station bugs

15K views 56 replies 39 participants last post by  JamesK 
#1 ·
I have noticed, that American TV stations, like to have their bug on the screen always visible, never transparent. For example, TLC always has their logo 100% opaque and never transparent. Another example is Discovery U.S., the Globe in the D is always spinning, but in Canada, it turns transparent after a few seconds, why is that?
 
#31 ·
Actually, NBC really loved starting to do that in December 2007. Even worse, they had a full-color bug with a SANTA HAT ON IT. Then when New Year's Eve came around, it got changed to a party hat. Thankfully when they switched it out for the Olympic one, it went back to grey.

But still, it often had annoying promo text above it
 
#34 ·
Product placement doesn't bother me at all. In fact, even as a kid it annoyed me that people will drink from a can marked "Cola"...it removed any realism. But bugs and other things that interfere with the viewing of a show annoy me to a point that I stop watching. If networks think that they're losing viewers to cable now...wait and see.
 
#36 ·
The latest Primeval: New World set an even lower bar for me - it took place in a Canadian Tire store & even showed sales & prices during the program in many scenes.

One scene in the staff lunchroom someone had even written Canadian Tire on the whiteboard :rolleyes:

It was so in your face it was sickening :mad:

Just more Corporate warfare against the consumer - they are now pounding & hammering away at us & are interferring with & stealing our free time enjoyment as well as our money.

Amazing how angry, vindictive & sneaky the 1% can be...
 
#38 ·
I have absolutely no problem with discrete product placement (drinking a can of coke instead of a generic cola for example, or even asking for a coke instead of a soda). It does get a bit annoying when it breaks the flow of the show. One example is in the Biggest Loser when they spend 5 minutes going to a certain sandwich store, ordering a sandwich and then raving how good it tastes yet is still good for you.
 
#41 ·
CBC is really blatant when it comes to that. There was one episode of Being Erica in its 4th season where Erica was test driving a Ford Focus, complete with a salesman in the back listing its features as they drove around and extolling the virtues of self-parking. At that point, the scene felt less like it was from an episode of the show and more of a commercial. Earlier in the season, they also had someone else buy a Ford, and then they also did a product placement for Nestea infusion. Not just as a visual, but there was a whole scene for it and how the character thought it was a better idea than what the others were already drinking, and mentioning it by name.


I get it. Companies need to advertise, but at the same time, doing it so blatantly breaks away from the fiction of the show and it just feels awkward and it doesn't add anything important to the narratives.
 
#42 ·
Bugs, Crawlers, Adds Now Friken #'s

Bugs, Crawlers, too many Add minutes now we get on some shows perpetual onscreen Hashtags # for the entire show :mad: CBC is horrible n this regard during some shows.

We are slowly bit by bit loosing the traditional TV screen...

Sadly, at some point it will become just like a web page full of fulltime adds, banners popups etc

BTW

I came across a few CRTC pages that show advert time limits per hour are eliminated & "virtual" adds (bugs, crawlers, banners) were exempted from any add time limit anyway...
Plus additional advert time bonuses for Canadian dramas :rolleyes:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2007/pb2007-53.htm

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2005/pb2005-8.htm
 
#44 ·
Logos middle of the screen etc?

Maybe this has been brought up before BUT do television providers really need to clutter the viewing screen with their LOGO pretty much sitting in the middle of the viewing area? As well some programs have the ticker or dialogue boxes in the middle of,the screen!

So annoying.

God I hate cdn tv and people who run it.

Sorry more a rant.
 
#54 ·
Maybe this has been brought up before BUT do television providers really need to clutter the viewing screen with their LOGO pretty much sitting in the middle of the viewing area? As well some programs have the ticker or dialogue boxes in the middle of,the screen!

So annoying.

God I hate cdn tv and people who run it.

Sorry more a rant.
Screen layout is designed so that the logo stays within the "Title-safe area", so that none of the title info is lost when the same picture is shown on a standard definition CRT.

Here's a Wikipedia link that explains TV Safe Area
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_area_(television)

It's somewhat focused on European TV standards, so here's an American TV station's guideline for proper placement and why the logo looks like it's in the middle of the screen on an HD TV, but will be properly positioned on an SD TV. The same would apply to Canadian TV, since we use the same broadcast standards.

https://komoproduction.wordpress.com/resources/widescreen-formatting/
 
#50 ·
At least the twitter feed stuff is coming from the show producers and is meant to be part of the show. The stuff we are talking about is promotional material added by broadcasters and is not part of the show. On screen bugs are promotional ads for the network or station placing them on the screen. At one time, CTV used large opaque bugs to obliterate the originating network bugs. They were a source of annoyance for many people at DH.

The stuff the really irks me promotions for upcoming shows that cover 1/4 of the screen. Most of the time it's for a show I'm totally not interested in or stopped watching years ago because it was past its prime. I've even seen promotions for shows that had already been cancelled by the network. When they cover up on screen action, credits or subtitles it makes me want to make a nasty phone call to the station (which I have not done.) Most of the time, I just set a timer for another station or network so they lose viewers instead of gaining them. The promotions for one new show were so frequent and annoying that I made a point of not watching the show. Take that CTV.
 
#51 ·
CTV has been showing more "ads" lately during a show. Pop-ups that appear before or after a regular commercial break advertising food or something (such as Burger King). Makes me want Adblock for TVs! ;)

(side note: this is not meant to start a discussion about ad-blocking on websites)
 
#52 ·
Yes! The Burger King "countdown" is usually on during Arrow usually after a fight scene. I think of it as a cue to grab the remote and start FFWDing through the ads since we rarely watch live TV these days.;)
 
#53 ·
Or Bell covering 1/4 of the screen to say that you could rewind to watch the beginning of the show if you want. No, I don't want to and stop bothering me! Makes me glad I am not paying for Fibe TV (or any TV for that matter).
 
#55 ·
Wow thanks for the detail. I thought it was to piss people off, to be honest. I never notice it much unless it's basically in the middle disturbing viewing.
 
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