Article

2009-07-07 Fifth Column

TV networks trying to raise ad rates as viewers stop watching

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Posted by gromky 2009-07-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top

#1 Does anyone under the age of 55 watch TV anymore? When I get the urge to watch it, I can find nothing to watch. Now I usually pop in a DVD and watch that instead.

Posted by Jumbo Slinerong5015 2009-07-07 05:44|| 2009-07-07 05:44|| Front Page Top

#2 True story: I'm an expatriate who never watches American TV. When I get home, once or twice a year, I like to relax with a beer and get reacquainted with an old friend called "television." It takes 24-48 hours before I get totally bored with the constant repeats and insipid shows, and I'm ready to not watch for another year. A pity, my father has this totally sweet home theater setup with risers and everything, couch potato heaven. 550 channels and nothing's on.

Posted by gromky 2009-07-07 06:07|| 2009-07-07 06:07|| Front Page Top

#3 With the second dip of the double dip recession coming this "strategy" will be a death spiral for Broadcasters.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2009-07-07 07:11|| 2009-07-07 07:11|| Front Page Top

#4 200 channels of shit on the TV

- Pink Floyd (don't recall the song - caffine hasn't kicked in ...)

Posted by CrazyFool 2009-07-07 08:19|| 2009-07-07 08:19|| Front Page Top

#5 Just like the folding of the Big Three advertising has hammered a number of the dead tree media, the ripples are finally reaching broadcast. You know they're elites when they act the same. The legislature in California can't get its head around the fact it has to live in budget and neither can these execs. Your product is overpriced for the market. You have to cut expenses on everything to include leveling the management structure.

BTW, I think Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, and a number of other programs on sat/cable access are well worth the viewing. If you want to get a good laugh you should have caught the last couple minutes of After the Catch which featured the captains seeing their program in international release and themselves dubbed. Salty Bering Sea Captain(tm) just is not the same in French.

Posted by Procopius2k 2009-07-07 08:20|| 2009-07-07 08:20|| Front Page Top

#6 I've reverted to DVD's. Watched Daniel Craig in Defiance for the 5th time last evening. I keep looking for Judith Dench to arrive in a Dakota resupply drop, but no luck. A good training film selection for the upcoming Obamageddon. Highly recommend it.

Posted by Besoeker 2009-07-07 08:45|| 2009-07-07 08:45|| Front Page Top

#7 Pink Floyd's comment was thirteen channels of shit to choose from - a lot in the broadcast days. Bruce Springsteen added 57 channels and nothing on in the cable TV 80s. Funny how the number of choices increases, but the quality remains the same.

Posted by gromky 2009-07-07 09:22|| 2009-07-07 09:22|| Front Page Top

#8 Unless there is a national emergency kinda thing (and no, Michael Jackson's demise doesn't count even if the networks think it does), what's the point of watching live TV if you have a DVR and can skip the ads?

Posted by Cornsilk Blondie 2009-07-07 10:21|| 2009-07-07 10:21|| Front Page Top

#9 I did the math a long time ago, it was cheaper to buy dvd's than pay for cable TV.

Posted by flash91 2009-07-07 11:11|| 2009-07-07 11:11|| Front Page Top

#10 Outside of sports, I can't think of anything I watch on network TV.

Posted by tu3031 2009-07-07 12:20|| 2009-07-07 12:20|| Front Page Top

#11 Australian football is on channel 88 in NYC. Just sayin'

Posted by Grunter in Belize 2009-07-07 12:28|| 2009-07-07 12:28|| Front Page Top

#12 Lower the quality (in this case, number of eyeballs per 30 second ad) and raise the price...what the hell, it worked for Schlitz, didn't it?

Posted by Mike 2009-07-07 13:37|| 2009-07-07 13:37|| Front Page Top

#13 Does anyone under the age of 55 watch TV anymore?

I'm 51, I stopped watching TV (broadcast/cable) about eight years ago. Now I only watch movies that I buy or rent.

Posted by Injun Grinesing9686 2009-07-07 13:37|| 2009-07-07 13:37|| Front Page Top

#14 I use an online movie service named Graboid, for 5 bucks a month I can download about 5-6 movies, Depending on size) and watch them whenever I wish(They stay on computer so you can re-watch at your pleasure), Then next month, 5 more and so on.
I highly recommend WALL-E.(SCI FI Animation)

Posted by Redneck Jim 2009-07-07 14:05|| 2009-07-07 14:05|| Front Page Top

#15 I do watch TV - HGTV, that is. Also Food Network and some programs on Discovery, Discovery Health (Dr. G's interesting, though I wish they wouldn't blur the gory stuff), and the like.

If it weren't for cable, I'd never turn on the TV except for the local news. What frosts me is I'm paying for sports channels, since it's part of the "basic" subscription. Several years ago, Comcast called me to try to convince me to pay them even more money for HBO, et al. I told them I'd rather they took away all the sports channels and charged me less.

Haven't heard from them since.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-07-07 14:15|| 2009-07-07 14:15|| Front Page Top

#16 If some of those sports channels are hunting and fishing shows, Barbara, they might come in handy over the next few years in an instructional way.

Posted by no mo uro 2009-07-07 15:36|| 2009-07-07 15:36|| Front Page Top

#17 I'm in my later thirties now, and about a third of my peers have cable. It's easier to just buy dvds & wait until the few decent shows' seasons pop once a year.

Posted by Mitch H.">Mitch H. 2009-07-07 15:39|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]">[http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/] 2009-07-07 15:39|| Front Page Top

#18 TV networks trying to raise ad rates as viewers stop watching

I think the TV execs deserve some credit for their totally genius spin on the traditional "If we're losing money on every sale, we can always make it up on volume". It's the kind of marketing ingenuity that has made the American economy what it is today.

Posted by SteveS 2009-07-07 15:49|| 2009-07-07 15:49|| Front Page Top

#19 OK, I'll take the mocking - I just got hooked on "Gary Unmarried" with Jay Mohr. About the only network show I watch, but it's pretty damn funny (I DVR it to skip the ads, k?).

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-07-07 18:53|| 2009-07-07 18:53|| Front Page Top

#20 Do what, Frank?

Never even heard of it. ~~Mercifully.~~

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-07-07 19:40|| 2009-07-07 19:40|| Front Page Top

#21 jeebus. Fredman makes it hard to reset your nic after sockpuppetting

Posted by Ward Churchill">Ward Churchill 2009-07-07 19:41|| 2009-07-07 19:41|| Front Page Top

#22 uh huh

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-07-07 19:42|| 2009-07-07 19:42|| Front Page Top

#23 I only watch the history, military and discover channel. And then only on weekends when I Tivo it and skip the commercials.

Posted by DarthVader 2009-07-07 20:59|| 2009-07-07 20:59|| Front Page Top

#24 I'm sure a few more monts of 24/7 michael jackson will save you noble networks of nada.

Posted by newc">newc 2009-07-07 22:07|| 2009-07-07 22:07|| Front Page Top

23:40 Redneck Jim
23:15 trailing wife
23:14 ed
23:05 Don Vito Crolutle2068
22:55 trailing wife
22:53 trailing wife
22:53 Don Vito Crolutle2068
22:44 trailing wife
22:41 Thrineque Lumplump8647
22:36 Procopius2k
22:33 trailing wife
22:30 trailing wife
22:18 JosephMendiola
22:13 JosephMendiola
22:07 newc
22:06 Besoeker
21:50 Barbara Skolaut
21:49 newc
21:49 Barbara Skolaut
21:48 Bright Pebbles
21:46 Barbara Skolaut
21:46 crosspatch
21:43 Mullah Richard
21:39 Barbara Skolaut