Stop cutting off the ends of my shows!

[Xia]

This is getting really annoying... Late at night when I am watching TV (pretty much the only time I watch live TV) infomercials keep intruding on the ends of the shows! It seems to be especially common on TLC. It just happened again today, I was watching a show on TLC and at about 1:56 it suddenly switched to an infomercial even though the previous show wasn't over yet! The worst time was some reality-type show I was watching where at the end they tell you the outcome. Well of course they wait until the very end for the dramatic reveal, but before they could get there they were suddenly talking about Proactiv or weight loss programs or something!

[snapdragonfly]

I don't think they are supposed to do that. They are selling more ad time than they actually have.

I'll bet you could report them to the FCC.

[AnglRdr]

Xia, do you have cable or satellite? If it is the former, it might be your cable company's local ad time sales, and the fault of the local cable company's producers.

I would definitely call their customer service to find out who you need to write a letter to, and then CC that to the FCC.

[Mr. Sender]

I had to stop watching The Investigators because of this.

Ballif: "We find the defendant-" (buzz)
Guy Who Would Have Made Billy Mays Give Him A Dirty Look For Talking Too Loud: "HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE MONEY WORKING AT HOME?!"

[DawnStorm]

TBS (IIRC) used to do this all the time. Don't know if they still do.

[AniMajor]

Sometimes the networks run reality shows like American Idol several minutes over their time so other shows start late and Tivo can't get the end of them. Or, like in the case of last week's Monk, they ran some movie 8 minutes over it's time slot, so I missed 8 minutes at the end of Monk.

[franjava]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

TBS (IIRC) used to do this all the time. Don't know if they still do.

Yep. I don't know if they still do, but I know they used to start their shows at the :05 and :35, so if you wanted to watch one show on their channel, you had to either change the channel before the end to catch the a show on another network, or miss the beginning of the other network's show to see the end of TBS's show. I think it was their sneaky way of trying to get more viewers. Like "Well, we missed the first 5 minutes of Cosby, so we might as well keep watching TBS shows." Stupid.

[Xia]

I have cable, so I should probably complain to the cable company. I don't think the shows are running long because they start on the hour and they get cut off before the hour is over (like at 56, 57 around there.) It happens the most often on TLC and A&E I believe but I think it has also happened when I was watching Animal Planet and maybe some other channels.

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by Snapdragonfly

I don't think they are supposed to do that. They are selling more ad time than they actually have.

I doubt that-if I remember correctly, oversold spots simply don't run, and are rescheduled. This sounds like a technical issue, someone at the local cable system for that area isn't doing things correctly. Or, if it's only one station-you mention TLC-it could be that TLC's shows are a bit out of sync and run long.

-RB

[DawnStorm]

There was a time when those Proactiv ads were LOUD. I'd be watching something on Animal Planet and suddenly THE PROACTIV AD WOULD COME ON AND BLAST ME OFF THE COUCH WITH ITS VOLUME--talk about scrambling for the remote to lower the volume! About a year ago, I noticed that the volume had been lowered considerably, which surprises me. According to advertisers, the volume of their commercials isn't loud at all.

[snapdragonfly]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

There was a time when those Proactiv ads were LOUD. I'd be watching something on Animal Planet and suddenly THE PROACTIV AD WOULD COME ON AND BLAST ME OFF THE COUCH WITH ITS VOLUME--talk about scrambling for the remote to lower the volume! About a year ago, I noticed that the volume had been lowered considerably, which surprises me. According to advertisers, the volume of their commercials isn't loud at all.

Probably the guy they secretly hire to turn up the volume on commericals (and we KNOW they do ) has swine flu lately and as soon as he recovers it'll be BACK TO THE COMMERICIALS BEING LOUD ENOUGH TO WAKE UP THE REST OF THE HOUSEHOLD WHEN YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WATCHING AT 1:30 IN THE MORNING!!!

[Arriah]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

There was a time when those Proactiv ads were LOUD. I'd be watching something on Animal Planet and suddenly THE PROACTIV AD WOULD COME ON AND BLAST ME OFF THE COUCH WITH ITS VOLUME--talk about scrambling for the remote to lower the volume! About a year ago, I noticed that the volume had been lowered considerably, which surprises me. According to advertisers, the volume of their commercials isn't loud at all.

They still are. Them and Direct Buy. Thanks for waking up the baby while I was watching TV at a reasonable volume. I keep wondering who I should complain to, the company, the station, cable provider?