NBC Molested My DVR
The 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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Ah ha!!! And here I thought it was just me. Now I have additional proof for my girlfriend that I'm not double tapping the FF button. Seriously, why must they do this. I'm with you on the giving up on NBC, I'll watch it on Hulu and just mute the commercials from now on, if I even bother going to that length.
Wow. I haven't experienced this phenomenon myself, but it's quite the dick move on NBC's part. Why do networks have such an aversion to people wanting to watch their shows? Did they react this strongly when VCRs became widely available? I'm too young to really remember (We got our first VCR when I was about six.), but I don't recall this kind of ruckus and mischief-making. Seriously, why are the people who should be embracing this technology trying to subvert it at every turn?
I had no idea it was just NBC. I feel like it's happened on other networks, but I can't remember that actually occurring. Maybe it's just so obnoxious it's altering my memories of television (oooo evil!).
In any case, this issue has become THE tv issue with my sister and I, where we assign blame and practice magical thinking to make the remote work "correctly". Though we have a solid enough relationship that this doesn't really warrant us needing therapy, I feel like NBC should pay for it anyway, simply because I don't remember ever fighting this much with my sister about television –and that includes Saturday morning cartoons.
There was doom and gloom from the networks about the VCR, too. I'm not old enough to remember it, but I recall reading about it during the writers' strike.
We thought it was a DVR box issue until we started paying attention to when it happened. And who knows? Maybe you could get NBC to pay for therapy – the city of Los Angeles is in a suit against Time Warner for providing crappy cable service.
I assume it's all about those ad dollars.
I know it's all about the ad dollars, and from a business perspective I understand it. But how do you make money on shows that no one is willing to watch because you're screwing with your audiences ability to view the shows in the way they prefer.
I personally believe that there are better ways to make the money. Look at what Eureka did with Degree (granted that was an obnoxious campaign) and how many times have you heard Office Max on the Office.
Subtlety has it's place and I think the networks should be embracing that aspect of the ad market. Have Coca-Cola machines, not Soda machines in the break rooms. Put Folgers coffee in the Krups coffee maker. etc., etc., etc.
As long as they don't interfere with the storyline and get unbelievably obnoxious with it, I think that advertisers and product placement is where the future of Broadcast marketing is going.
On that note, mores the better. I hate people asking for a Cola, or drinking a Beer. Order a Coke, and drink a Budweiser, that's what real people do. The other way has always rung false in my ears.
OK, rant over, thanks.