NBC Molested My DVR
Star TrekStargate:AtlantisFireflyThe public owns the airwaves. So, why is NBC pissing all over our property? (For once, this isn’t about Heroes or Journeyman!)
For years, NBC has been playing scheduling games like starting programs at 8:59PM or ending programs at 10:02PM in order to trip up Tivo and DVR. Later on, ABC followed suit and now I know to add an extra minute or two on each end of the recording so I don’t miss key events. It’s annoying, yes, but easy enough to deal with.
Also annoying is NBC’s insistence that I pay $.99 per episode to watch their programs On Demand. I already pay for On Demand service and see no reason why I should pay per episode in addition to my current fees. Again, annoying, but no big deal; I can just record Chuck, The Office and 30 Rock and fast forward through the commercials later. No problem, right?
Except there’s a problem.
John and I noticed a new little quirk when watching shows on DVR. While fast forwarding, the recording will jump to the end. While trying to rewind back to where we left off, the recording will jump to the beginning. For weeks, John insisted that I was hitting something twice or accidentally hitting another button, thus interrupting the process. So, John took charge of the remote and I gloated when the same thing happened on his watch.
We never have this problem while watching Pushing Daisies or Ugly Betty. We never have this problem while watching Supernatural. We only have this problem while watching NBC.
This isn’t me sitting in the dark in my tiny apartment, being overcome with Chinese food stink and concocting paranoia driven conspiracies involving NBC, the Illuminati, and Ted Turner (he has wee beady eyes).
OK, maybe it is that a little. But, I’m not the only one experiencing this.
This guy is having the same problem.
Really, NBC? You screw your audience out of good programming (Journeyman, Studio 60), enthusiastically peddle moronic crap (The Bionic Woman, Knight Rider), and have subjected the airwaves to 782 hours of Law & Order and its spin offs over the past 19 years. Please don’t tell me that, in addition to all of that, you’re going to make it impossible for me to record and watch the two or three shows I actually like on your network.
The spectrum of airwaves being used by NBC and other network broadcasters are owned by the public. The networks are supposed to use them in the public interest, convenience and necessity. Making it impossible to watch is not in my public interest. It is not a necessity. It sure as hell isn’t convenient. Most importantly, it makes me want to avoid NBC altogether and screw them out of as much ad revenue as possible by downloading Chuck and The Office by bittorrent. Obviously, I can’t condone that and won’t do it myself because it screws the people working on the shows out of money.
See, NBC? I can act ethically when it comes to your property. Why can’t you act ethically when it comes to ours? Stop abusing our airwaves. And please, please, please stop with the inappropriate touching of my DVR.
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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.
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