Comments on: TiVo ‘Idol’ viewers botched

By: Mitch

Mitch — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:24:44 +0000

You people and your books are hilarious. Keep clinging to the day when a lead-in meant something.

By: Rubyredjewel

Rubyredjewel — Sun, 27 May 2007 13:51:30 +0000

American Idol has purposely ran long often this year and in past years.What was the point of Ryan going to a commercial at the end of the hour? Or why didn’t thys skip announcing the guy from the company that tabulated the votes.Watching the last few minutes on youtube on the AI website you can see they could have still bought that show in on time!

By: G Man

G Man — Sun, 27 May 2007 00:51:43 +0000

Smells like the networks are getting back at people who “time shift” and “zip commercials”. Is it really an accident? I’ve noticed that Idol is always running a few minutes over. And it’s not just Fox. ABC does it too.

By: steve

steve — Sat, 26 May 2007 22:37:52 +0000

Zack is incorrect. It means that technically the newscast’s first quarter hour was from 10:15-10:30. The last quarter hour would have been 11:00-11:15.

The station would have the option to keep all of the quarter hours in. But since the last quarter hour ran over the “scheduled” newscast time the station could ask just to drop the last quarter hour and keep the first three quarters.

zack - you may want to talk to your station’s research director.

By: Don Day

Don Day — Sat, 26 May 2007 05:35:01 +0000

Has Idol ever gone long in the past?

By: Mitch

Mitch — Fri, 25 May 2007 22:14:09 +0000

TiVo has technology to allow the station/net to send a signal in the VBI to warn TiVos of just such a thing, but nobody has ever used it.

By: Lyle

Lyle — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:58:50 +0000

The thing about padding your record times, though, is that it limits what else you can record… admittedly, this is part of the point when popular shows go beyond the usual time slot — miss the last minute of Grey’s Anatomy or miss ER.

Personally, if a show I watch keeps going over I end up asking myself how much I enjoy watching it. Having to set pad time gives the show an inconvenience factor… which I’ll accept if I’m enjoying the show, but once my interest starts to fade there’s a greater reward for giving up.

By: zoomer

zoomer — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:34:44 +0000

why wasn’t anything be done for DVR users on the West Coast? - we COULD have been warned!

By: zoomer

zoomer — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:34:23 +0000

why wasn’t anything done for DVR users on the West Coast? - we COULD have been warned!

By: saundra

saundra — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:02:47 +0000

Zack said, “If you start your newscast past 7 minutes 30 secs it doesn’t count in the book. So all affils, with a great lead-in, had to throw their best night out. ”

Here’s my understanding of the rules: If the show goes over by 7mins :30 secs or more, the quarter hour is labled as more of the lead-in. If Idol had gone long by less than 7:30, the entire quarter hour would have been labled as news and counted in the news average.

I’ve always thought that is one of many flaws in Neilson rules. Fox affiliates could’ve gotten credit for the huge audience waiting for the big Idol announcement as news ratings, if Ryan had reigned in the bla bla bla by two minutes. Instead, you still got a monster lead-in for the final three quarter hours of news, which WILL count in your average if you want them to. Under this scenario, you got to “shop the number”, right?

It hardly seems like Fox affils “got screwed” just because you couldn’t count an entertainment show’s ratings in your news average. God knows, you got enough mileage out of the gigantic lead-ins all season long.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 25 May 2007 19:42:11 +0000

At least they didn’t cut to ‘Heidi’ for the last nine minutes of the show.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 25 May 2007 19:16:55 +0000

Ouch—about the FOX affiliates. Didn’t know that. My FOX affiliate went straight to a reporter live at IDOL as their top story. *rolls eyes*

But, people should know shows can run over.

And FOX, have better timing. Have less commericals or something so we can have a on time show!

By: Zack

Zack — Fri, 25 May 2007 18:16:16 +0000

I work at a FOX affil., and all affiliates got screwed. If you start your newscast past 7 minutes 30 secs it doesn’t count in the book. So all affils, with a great lead-in, had to throw their best night out.

Any other thoughts from other FOX Stations?

By: Jacob

Jacob — Fri, 25 May 2007 18:12:54 +0000

Maybe I’m a little too cynical here — but a 9 minute overage on Fox’s juggernaut of a show that completely leaves anyone who’s time-shifting it out in the cold? Doesn’t that sound like a GREAT way to absolutely demand a live audience for future shows, and therefore greater Nielsen numbers? Just askin’.

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 25 May 2007 16:32:26 +0000

I got screwed a few weeks ago because greg’s anatomy went about 2 minutes late. I had to go in there and set the pad on the season pass to stop recording 15 minutes after the show ends. Without setting the pad there is always a risk that you will miss the end of programs. It’ll be nice when tivo can tell on its own when a show is actually starting and ending instead of just the “scheduled” time.