dx23

I'm extremely pissed at our affiliate ABC Puerto Rico, who tonight, for some fucking reason, went dark during the last 15 minutes of the Lost Recap and the first 7 minutes of Lost Season 4. My friends and I believe that they were trying to insert ads for local products during this time, since the screen showed several Windows 2000 Professional restarts (and really what the fuck is up with that? Windows fucking 2000 to run 5 network affiliates?!?!). All these affiliates are runned by the incompetent Caribbean Broadcasting Network.

The thing is that here in Puerto Rico ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and CW are part of the cable/dish packages. We have to pay to get those channels as well as to get everything else except 5-6 local channels. Also, this is not the first time something like this happen. Almost every damn program runned by these channels is cut by the ads placed before/after or during the shows.

Me and a lot of my friends want to send/do separate email/phone calls to the corporate ABC to voice our displeasure with this situation. Anyone has the contact email or phone number? We believe that even if it is a longshot, corporate will let the affiliates know that there are many angry customers/viewers on the island.

And by the way, is there anything in the FCC rules that could help us in venting our anger toward this practice?

Deftones

Can't you just watch the missed footage on abc.com? I mean, I understand your frustration, but maybe it was some technical glitch that occurred. That does happen from time to time.

Alan Smithee

While you're talking to them, see if they can fix that ABC logo that's always stuck in the corner of the screen. I'm sure they don't really mean for it to be there.

Oh, and the FCC doesn't care as long as there weren't any bare asses.

dx23

That's another thing we want to include in our email. For some reason, residents of Puerto Rico can't watch any network episodes online. When you try to watch a show like Lost on abc.com, a screen appears saying that only people in the US can watch the show online. There is no rhyme or reasoning for not letting us watch the episodes online.

Doc MacGyver

Dude, I feel your pain. I have comcast in Philadelphia... corporate headquarters of Comcast - they just built, like, a NINETY story corporate headquarters on 17th and Arch - and our cable service sucks. On-Demand is terrible, and there are so many glitches and sound drop-outs that it becomes unwatchable. Their HD feed has a mind of its own and I swear to christ their own DVRs don't interact well with their network.

Running affiliates off of Windows is ridiculous, but not as much a shock as I would have previously thought. I get the feeling that the cable signal in the Manayunk area of Philly is piggy-backed off of a neo-geo console sometimes, the way our shit just goes out.


-Doc

shaun3000

Maybe someone at ABC needs to go back to geography class. You're in PR, so why is it telling you you're not in the US?

dx23

Actually all the networks seem to need that class. At the beginning of last year, my best friends brother was part of the cast of the short lived series 3lb, starring Stanley Tucci. I missed the first episode, so I went to CBS.com to watch it and they had the same message of availability to only US residents. Things like these irk the hell out of me.

Peep

Maybe you should complain to the President of Puerto Rico and tell him to have Puerto Rico join the US.

BJacks

Computers aren't always smart; the geo-targeting set-up may be basing it on something that you're sharing with non-US nations that are neighbors to PR.

dx23

I hope you are kidding about the president part. We aren't an official state, but Puerto Rico has a governor, not President and we fall under the same laws as the US. I still don't know why we haven't become a state since the majority of the people in the island wants to become one.

Deftones

Actually, as an aside, I heard the opposite. Don't you guys give up the right to vote in presidential elections, but as a trade-off you guys don't have income taxes.?

dx23

Nope, that is not entirely correct. We don't vote for presidential elections unless we have a residence in the states. We do have income taxes, due mid april and since 2006 we have sales tax (7%). So basically we are screwed.

Deftones

Maybe I was thinking of the sales tax thing where there was none. That sucks that you guys now have that. So now you have all the benefits of living in the US except voting. Move over stateside then!

Sorry to hijack the thread.

dx23

Actually, my wife and I have been thinking of moving there in the next couple of years.

So back to original question. Anyone knows any contact info for ABC?

seltzer77

Here you go...

http://abc.go.com/site/localstations.html

Puerto
Rico


San Juan WPRU
638 Aldebaran
BDE Building Suite HQ-12B
2nd Floor
San Juan, PR 00920
(800) 275-6437