Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

Not all cable companies charge more for the HD box. I know Time Warner doesn't.

But also, you don't need an HD box to get HD locals at least. Those are usually left in the clear and can be picked up by the TV's HD tuner. Now if you want HD cable channels, yeah, you need a box, but some cable companies are doing away with analog cable altogether, or are slowing moving in that direction. Comcast for example are well on their way to requiring boxes for everyone.

I don't know if Comcast charges more for an HD box.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

F'ing 1%ers and their SD TV's ruin it for everybody.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

Comcast charges more for HD. They already require some type of box for everyone. There are new tvs that pick up local over air HD out of the box? My point is that people with SD cable may watch over the air in HD if they did not have to purchase an antenna. I was not aware new tvs came with built in over the air antennas.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

The logos are only in the middle when you're watching in widescreen, which not everybody does.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

It's called branding.

And the logo is positioned that way so it's not cut off for people watching on 4x3 TVs.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

IMO with the digital switch over HD widescreen is now the standard... To keep slamming horrible screen logos all over the middle of the 16x9 frame is just inexcusable. We are at the point where people can't even get an analog 4x3 signal anymore and have to use a digital converter box or cable to dumb down a HD signal to work on an old tv.

Even if they crop something like this to 4x3, it's horrible. Even if they add in bars at the top and bottom for older 4x3 sets to have a matte sort of fake widescreen, it's horrible.. To have it on a nicer HD set is just annoying to the point that I don't even want the watch the show really.

and yes, I picked this screen shot on purpose due to content.. :banana:
Best screen scene with the worst network "logos" I could think of in the last few weeks..

http://img286.imagevenue.com/loc151/..._122_151lo.jpg

but come on..
LIVE THE 40th ANNIVERSARY AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS SUNDAY NOV 18 8/7c Day of of Giving #dayofgiving ABC...

all that on my screen, I think that's longer then some posts in this thread.. Networks should only do this for a few seconds before a commercial break but as others have said, I doubt it will change..

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

And as lower class citizens we should leave them behind. ;)

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

Why not just read a book or something?

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

But who is still receiving anything other than a 16x9 signal? All my over the air channels are 16x9. At least the ones that matter.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

SD cable is 4x3

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

They are receiving a 16x9 signal, but could be watching on a 4x3 TV. And depending on their settings, they could be watching it center cut instead of letterbox.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

I thought the FCC required the logos on network and basic cable channels.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

I don't understand why people are still tolerating this crap (NBC has been doing it for 16 YEARS now!) I hardly watch any TV at all anymore because of the on-screen crap. I don't know why show producers allow their work to be trashed like this either. I would not even allow a stupid dog video shot by me to be shown on "America's Stupidest Home Videos" if it had a network logo on it. The reputations of the "big 3" were irreparably tarnished the day this started. And yes, it is annoying to see stuff in widescreen obviously composed with 4x3 in mind- I've seen many newscasts where people are close to the middle of the screen with just background stuff on the sides. Anyone still using a 4x3 set can either watch it letterboxed or not at all.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

SD Cable boxes convert down to 4x3. Even with a 16x9 tv the sides are cropped off depending on the show and network. Some are letterboxed.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

That's hilarious that cable companies would actually downgrade an HD broadcast and charge for it on top of that! Digital "converter boxes" have a "full screen" setting though which crops the picture to 4x3, but again anyone who does that should just take whatever they get. A low-power standard-def station near me carries a cheap Cuban network, and the first few weeks they had the 4x3 picture from that stretched out to 16x9 proportions, than cropped that to 4x3. It was beautiful.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

Well, they had to come up with something to thwart DVRs rising popularity and ease of skipping commercials. For that, I'll tolerate minimal screen real estate taken up.

Cable channels are just as bad. I think I've seen USA that does like 25% of the screen for animated ads during a show.

Now that is too much.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

How does that thwart skipping commercials? If they were putting paid ads on the screen that might do it, but simply putting the logo of the network you're watching, as if you are so insanely stupid that you can't remember yourself or that it's absolutely imperative that you always do remember, onscreen does nothing but annoy people like me who can't simply "ignore" part of the screen. This started a few years before DVRs anyways- in fact I was never interested in getting one because I had already quit watching network TV because of the logos when they came out. (My VCR meanwhile had gotten plenty of rest as a result. Too bad for the sponsors too, since on shows I REALLY liked, I used to save complete original broadcasts including the commercials. With the picture constantly vandalized, I quit doing that.)

I have yet to hear a valid reason for this practice, and I certainly would like to hear what the networks have GAINED from it (and not their crackpot theories about "increased brand recognition", but what they have actually GAINED in terms of revenue and ratings.)

This thread SHOULD be "Are they ever going to move the network logos/icons OFF the screen?" It's shocking that not a single show producer has spoken up about it. The closest was one of the Simpsons openings where they grab the Fox logo and stomp on it (I wrote to Fox by the way back in 1993 when they started putting their logo on the screen, and got a thank-you from The Simpsons department.) There is also no logo during the Academy Awards, presumably because that's one of the only broadcasts people in the industry actually watch live, and some Steven Speilberg and George Lucas movies have aired on networks bug-free per their request. Imagine if the producer of "Lost" or some other big show were to do that, but I guess money is the only thing that matters to them.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

Sorry, I was referring to the on screen ads not the logos.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

CNN was actually the first to start putting up a network bug.

It doesn't thwart missing commercials, but repeats the info for the network promos you skip.

And you would be absolutely amazed at how clueless most viewers are. They aren't nearly as savvy as you think. Networks need to constantly remind those who may be filling out Nielsen diaries.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

I don't mind the station ID as shown above. Its sort of ghosted and I don't even see it after a few minutes. What really pisses me off is not network channels but cable channels that put little videos at the bottom. Bright ones too. Cars sliding to a stop & actor gets out. People sneaking out, 'seeing the audience' then running back to the side. etc. Those would repeat every 3-5 minute and each time it would happen, it would distract me from what show I was watching.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

What bothers me more are the channels that feel a 24-hour-a-day crawl are really necessary all the time. Will the world really end if ESPN2 dropped its crawl? Before the events of 9/11, crawls at the bottom were reserved for one or two channels. Now they are omnipresent and I expect to start seeing them on non-news channels any day.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

Yeah, I hate that shit, too. Bugs, I don't like, but I can live with them.

But I absolutely hate it when you're watching something, and there's a dramatic or tense scene, and little basketball players go running across the bottom of the screen.

Whoever came up with this shit should have a hot poker shoved up their ass.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

The problem for me is that the network bugs ruin "dramatic or tense scenes" for me- they take me out of the show, reminding me I'm just watching a show. ABC can be running some show that at least attempts to be moving, but the logo on the screen just makes me think of Schoolhouse Rock.

The HD network feeds used to have the bugs closer to the side of the screen when they still had separate standard-def feeds. When I got my first digital TV tuner (included with a DVD recorder, which I bought for transferring old tapes) I still had a 4x3 TV, and when set to crop the picture rather than letterbox the logos were cut off! They moved them into the 4x3-safe area a few months before the analog stations started going off the air, and yes it would have made much more sense to just get rid of them entirely. They've become the elephant in the room at this point- there needs to be just one show producer who threatens to quit unless their show airs without them.

Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

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Re: Are they ever going to move the Network logos/icons to the side of the screen?
 

Oh, the anger online the next day because of that! Still it was nothing compared to when the BBC did this a few years later:

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