mike1977

I was watching some of Penn & Teller about ouiji boards when it happened:
The Showtime logo in red and a text promo ad came up on the bottom left for
a show that was airing next. The day is coming when premium channels will be
as worthless as regular cable channels. Now doing it during a show such as
P&T is not that big of a deal as it would be during a movie, but that is not
the point. They are supposed to air their stuff with NO ads in any shape or
form...that is the purpose of subscribing to a premium channel, isn't it? ( http://sho.com/about/index.cfm ---first sentence)

Anyway, a real greeting card by postal mail thanking them for helping me
make the decision to cancel my subscription and save some money is in order.
I'm sure they will like that.

I'll be sending one to Scifi as well. I will just say I have time freed up to do something else because I watch less, not
being exposed to their ads, because they have to put spam over the shows
after commercials. Haha, I watched first airing of Tremors last night and
the NOW said Cleopatra 2525. They should just do away with all that dren,
because I hate it when it covers text that is part of the show. I wish they'd bring back the bumpers with the spam there. Scifi's bumpers were cool with the actors saying their shows continue.

tsohg

GRRR I hate that too it's the number one reason why I don't watch as much news on tv as I used to. Especially with the war going on. It seems like everytime a retired military guy is on discussing something and pointing to a map there is a station logo in the effin way. I get most of my stuff online at least my popup killer blocks most of that crap.

TheOne

I thought I was the only one to notice this at Showtime.

HBO and Starz does not display the transparent logo on the bottom right of the screen during a movie. Only Showtime. And I am playin for the premium channels. This really pisses me off.

Anyone know of an email address I can write to Showtime concerning tis horrible "advertising"?

mike1977

You can go to http://www.sho.com/util/custhelp.cfm , enter your name and email address, click ask a question, Topic: General Questions/comments

Or you can write to this address (which I found in Satellite Direct):

Showtime
1633 Broadway, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10019

fujishig

I wonder if we can blame ESPN for this... weren't they among the first to do this (though I do think that sports is one medium where extra information is actually useful).

I can see cable channels like SciFi or even the dreaded TNN do this... but you're right, Showtime is paid directly by subscribers.

Of course, I'm supposedly contributing to this by using my TIVO to skip traditional commercials...

Roto

I blame VH-1. They are the first ones I remember to constantly have the little transparent logo in the corner. Though at least on their channel it made some sense because at the time they still showed music videos and just maybe it could be mistaken for a commercial when you flip past it. I don't know what Showtime is thinking. What could they possibly have to gain from this. I usually know I'm watching Showtime when I see it

Rypro 525

Also, if you have like action max or something similar, they do the little logo as well, (reg cinemax does not), also hbo does it when they have live concerts or stand up acts, for the first airing only.

TheOne

I've just submitted my feedback to Showtime.

Let's see if I get a response.

Maybe if more of us do this...

mike1977

I submitted mine on the 12th and I haven't received one. I don't really care if they decide to make use of the popups to tell what is next, as long as it is DURING the breaks and NOT during airings of their shows.

tha_dvd_man

In more ways than you might think. A year ago I took a course on journalism and the media, and during one of the lectures the professor started talking about a conversation he had with the president/whatever of HBO and how they had conducted a survey and concluded that the majority of people wouldn't mind commercial breaks during movies. Which leads to, well, the obvious.

The day that happens, I chuck my cable box out the window and put all my money into DVDs.

fujishig

I really, really hope that the HBO guy is not in a position of power... commercial breaks during movies? On a "premium" channel? And he's under the delusion that people won't care?

mike1977

Here it is:

Thank you for your comments. We value all the comments we receive from our subscribers and we're glad you took the time to share your opinions with us. I am forwarding your email to the programming department, as they should be aware of the strong viewer support of this show. All correspondence can be addressed to the appropriate person as follows:
PENN & TELLER: BS!
C/O Showtime Networks Inc.
1633 Broadway, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10019

Typical customer service response to e-mail, as it does not address the problem.

mike1977

Did you get one?