Why Are TV Networks At War With TV Watchers?

It's screwy: TV networks MUST have watchers -- lots of us -- or they go out of business. So why are they making it so hard to watch their shows?

I'm talking about the wacky practice of scheduling shows at odd times and odd lengths. It's in pursuit of a bone-head theory about preventing channel switching, but it more likely prevents watching in the first place.

I bet you've encountered it and wondered if your clock was broken. Shows don't start and/or end when the public schedule says they should -- so you miss the beginning or end or both. Or, the schedule accurately says the show has an odd schedule, but that messes up your ability to watch something else that is on a normal schedule.

Trust the Program Guide -- or not?

One way to know when a show is really scheduled is to look at an Interactive Program Guide (IPG), such as the guides provided by cable TV boxes and the schedules used by digital video recorders (DVR).

Some networks are sort-of honest. For instance, ABC is running "Women's Murder Club" from 9:00pm - 10:02pm, and that's what my Cox Cable IPG shows.

Other networks do this too, but don't admit it to the IPG. If I tune in at exactly 9:00pm to a CBS show that supposedly starts at 9:00pm, I get to see the final scene and closing credits of the previous show, then some promos, then the 9:00pm show starts at 9:02 or later. The same thing happens on a variety of networks and cable channels, including (notoriously) NBC-Universal's SciFi channel.

This self-destructive practice can't possibly do what is intended: Trick the viewer into watching the next show on the same channel, because by 2 minutes past the hour, all the other channel's shows have already started. Of course, if everyone's doing this stupid practice, the whole idea blows up. And, who would spend another hour watching a lame show and miss a good one just because you are mistreated by the TV network?

Disclaimer: For many years I was a radio station programmer, and we also used certain practices to hang onto listeners. But we just tried to influence behavior -- we didn't lie to our audience!

DVR Dilemma

The biggest harm happens to viewers who use a DVR to record favorite shows for watching at a more convenient time. This is a large and rapidly growing group of viewers, so large that the Nielsen TV ratings service now counts DVR viewing of shows.

The problem is, a DVR can't figure out when a show really starts or ends, it just does exactly what the IPG schedule tells it to do. Try to record a CBS or SciFi show from 9:00pm to 10:00pm and you're likely to discover the show really ran from 9:02pm to 10:02pm. I just watched a recording of last week's "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" -- and missed the last 2 minutes! This also happens with movies due to sloppy scheduling and/or inaccurate IPG info from various movie channels.

Who could possibly win this game of "guess the time"? Don't the TV networks NEED us to watch their shows -- beginning to end? Or are they trying to promote DVD sales?

What time is it, really?

Or, if the IPG is accurate, you miss another show you intended to record. Say you want to record a show at 9:00pm and another at 10:00pm. If the 9 o'clock show really runs from 9:00 to 10:02 and the IPG tells this to the DVR, it records that show but can't record the 10:00pm show because it's still busy recording the 9:00pm show. You don't discover this until you go looking for your favorite show and it's not there.

There are only two ways to fight back. One is to complain, as I'm doing here and via other means. The other is to NOT WATCH shows that try to trick you via goofy scheduling, and especially those that intentionally provide inaccurate IPG information.

Accuracy, please

There are no excuses. IPG -- Interactive Program Guide -- information comes from the TV networks and channels. They can either be accurate and honest, or not -- their choice.

Of course, some TV channels are run by people who don't grasp technology, so some errors are simply sloppiness. For instance, some DVRs let you record future shows by title, even if you don't know when they will be on. This only works if the IPG uses the same title for every broadcast of the show, but some channels keep using unique show titles, probably clueless about the consequences (Hallmark Channel comes to mind).

Another problem occurs with a multi-part series where every episode is given exactly the same IPG info. Once the DVR gets one episode it thinks all the others are repeats and skips them.

Then there's the NEW flag in the IPG, which a DVR can use to record only new episodes and skip re-runs -- but only if the TV network sets the flag correctly in the IPG, which some do not (PBS comes to mind).

Then there are brain-dead IPG services, such as the one Cox Cable uses (at least in San Diego), which sometimes matches a show's title with the wrong description. There's a PBS HD series "Route 66" about interesting sites along the old road, but Cox's IPG keeps saying it's the black-and-white 1960's series about two guys in a Corvette. Even when Cox has the right show, its IPG has weak information when compared with the excellent IPG in my ReplayTV DVR.

I know, it's only TV. But that's the point: We all have alternatives for entertainment and information, so why are some TV networks and channels using trickery and carelessness to disappoint us and annoy us and ultimately drive us away?