My only problem with Hulu is that they still put commercials on everything. I can understand putting them on shows airing within the last year that are not available on DVD yet but past seasons shouldn't have commercials. The fact you have to pay the same amount for Hulu as you do for Netflix says a lot.

/thread

Also known as having a desire to stay in business.

Hulu is almost worse than TV these days... they used to have 2 or 3 thirty second commercials, but now it's ~3 commercials each break, and there are more breaks.

I'm just glad that out of my 135 channels, 60% of my programming is infomercials.

We signed up for a free 2 month trial and I was sorely disappointed with how many commercials they run.

Hulu can suck me off.

I'm not paying them to watch ads.

I get that.

I'm still not giving them any of my money.

If Netflix began showing ads I'd dump them.

This is how spoiled we've gotten. Newspapers are bleeding money because people like us copy links because we feel entitled to. Now we get upset because a tv station wants to advertise so they can actually make money off their shows.

Cable has always been expensive. With more options like satellite dishes and the Internet they have to try harder to make money.

It's amazing that we think a subscriber fee entitles us to free programming. If you want that experience, then pay a monthly fee for hbo. People are confusing subscriber fees with fee to keep time Warner in business. Advertising may be inconvenient.. But it is the only way networks can afford to provide you with quality programming. If you cut advertising, and hope you enjoy pbs.

I'm glad someone gets it. This country was built on capitalism yet people get all huffy when broadcasters do what they have to do to stay in business in an extremely competitve market. DVR's and such make it easy to skip commercials. Deal with some commercials and keep your programming or lose the commercials and like you said... watch PBS. Then the bitching would really be loud. We're sorry we have to pay our employees and keep a valid broadcasting lisence and buy/upkeep equipment and keep the electric bill paid so you can watch football or Pawn Stars or news or give you the music you like to listen to. Let us dump anything that is a slight and temporary annoyance to the audience because we don't deserve to be in business like every other company in America. Enjoy Reading Rainbow.

/end rant

Heh.

don't disagree with either of those opinions.

I know that commercials are necessary evils, but they get a little ridiculous during sporting events sometimes.

You know how much it costs for rights to sporting events? Well that's why they charge so much for advertising.

That's what that lovely mute button is for. I have a feeling it's gonna be the first button to fail on me because I use it ALOT!

I wasn't complaining about how much they charge for the advertising.

Hey, I didn't invent the DVR.

Oh I understand that. My point is that the plethora of ads have to be sold and often at high dollar prices to pay for the rights... and of course all the other expenses. You're right when you said commercials are a necessary evil. Without them no one would see the game.

Bullshit. If the networks are having that much trouble making a profit off of NFL telecasts, they shouldn't be paying such exorbitant prices for the rights. They're the ones setting the market price by trying to outbid each other.

Supply and demand. High bidder always wins and then recoup their costs through advertising. The NFL could set a price and then sell to the first network to buy but do they do that? Hell no. Tell me where the greed is.

In radio we have prices for programs that are set. The first person to accept the deal gets the spot. Pro sports doesn't work that way. But broadcasters are "greedy" for recouping their costs...

Boo-****ing-hoo... better raise rates, they only made five hundred million dollars this quarter, and what will the poor stockholders think about the 11% drop?!??!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...-earnings.html

...and like Bugeater said, CBS buys the rights to the NFL or March Madness or whatever for eleventy billion dollars, then drown us in ads to help pay for it.

I never used the word "greedy". My point is the networks are setting the market price, so I don't want to hear about how hard it is to recoup costs. If it's that unprofitable, don't ****ing bid on it.

Heh ok guys. The networks are evil. Shit everyone is in business to make money but when broadcasters do it the public gets their pantys in a bunch because they get inconvenienced for 2-4 minutes while nothing is going on in the game. ****ing broadcast companys.

You're welcome. You can listen to the games on local radio instead once all this thievery stops.

Half the time the reason nothing is going on the game is because they're waiting for the network to come back from commercial breaks.

No, it's all ridiculous when you think about how much money is swapped between all of the layers, yet I'm sitting here without freakin' ABC because TWC is in a squabble over probably a dollar increase (while my bill has gone up $10/month over the past 3 months).

The music industry eventually changed for the better, so I hope the same happens one day with cable... I love all the choices and for the most part think it's worth the money, but it's still a pretty terrible system.

I miss the days that they would talk about football between plays instead of getting in 15 seconds to promote yet another show that will only get canceled.

I think you've got the whole thing reversed. They pay so much because they CAN get the money back out of advertising. They don't set ad prices based on what they paid for it.

I understand beerme's frustration. Advertising pays his salary.

As much as I find ads annoying breaking into my 50th time watching The Shawshank Redemption, I understand I can't watch one of my fav movies again because there's no sponsorship. Yet what really gets my chicken wire tangles is it ****s up the continuity of most things I watch.

Synopsis... Watching a very intense movie, quiet then commercial. SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!!! Blah blah blah... SUNDAY ONLY!!!! doubling the decibels of the show I was just watching.

Again, I love that mute button it saves some sanity I still have left.

I don't think it's squabbling.. Mtv, and nick, and etc.... Lots of channels are losing a ton of ratings.. And not always for good reason. Whereas music was clearly moving to mp3 and people resisted, Internet tv will just never match the ability to watch tv live. Netflix is nice to watch back episodes of old sitcoms, but it will never be the media for new content. And we will never be able to really watch sports outside of tv in the same way. TV gets you the good video cameras, the commentators, the analysts, all these things go away if you take away cable. In this case, the the more people switch to new media to watch free videos, and the worse tv programming is going to get. I have a feeling we will reach a point where tv stations will be much to expensive to run. When that happens, the shows we enjoy today will go away.

It's like the pharmaceutical industry. To create innovative drugs you have to have drug companies who have the pockets to have a few drugs bomb. TV stations aren't much different. They have to make money to produce a lot of shows so that good ones subsidize the bad ones. You have to make money to continue to get state of the art sports camera equipment. The alternatives we are proposing only make it convenient for the tv viewer. I would rather be bothered by a few minutes of ads per hour if it meant we continued to see quality programming and superior sports coverage.

HDVR actually isn't a category killer.. Believe it or not, ad recall is still pretty strong even if you fast forward past commercials. If anything its a value add for cable.. It's a service your cable provider gives to you that Internet tv can't to the same level.

a few minutes? FEW? Each hour of TV is about 18 minutes of commercials.

Also, as far as sports goes, I don't care about all the fluff, just give me the game. I hate all the focus groups that brought us the human interest stories of athletes. The Olympics are practically unwatchable now because of that shit. Seems like you get about 15 minutes of actual sports 25 minutes of human interest and 20 minutes of commercials during the olympics.

Few minutes per hour? You ever watch a NFL game on TV?

Team A scores
(commercial break)
Team A kicks off
(commercial break)
Team B runs 2 plays, takes a time out
(commercial break)
Team B runs 1 more play and a member of Team A cramps up
(commercial break)
Team B runs two more plays and time expires in the quarter
(commercial break)
Team B punts to begin the next quarter
(commercial break)
etc etc

Well, I didn't mean it would go away completely, and like I said, for the most part I think all of the live sports options plus other channels are worth what I pay for it... but, more and more people are looking elsewhere for entertainment, and hopefully even the largest providers will eventually have to make fundamental changes to the industry. All those things you listed are great reasons to have cable, yet they're still screwing it up due to all of the money that's at stake. Kind of like the NFL.

And like other jumped on, it's not a few minutes of commercials... I can start a football game at halftime and catch up to live TV by the end of the game.

There's a lot of fluff you like that's expensive. Good commentators.. Good pregame, and half time, and post game analysis. Great camera angles and instant replay. The yellow first down marker line. During the olympics the ability to cutaway to different events quickly. March madness.... Same thing.

Sports coverage today is a lot more awesome today than it was 10 years ago. So yes, I can stand a few commercials to get that quality.

While I agree, problem is the more people watch other media, the more costly it is to cable viewers. Interesting industry in that all cable subscribers share the expense. When less people watch, and cable companies tv stations have to find new ways to make money. It's often that's in the form of price increases. It's not our fault that we are choosing new ways to watch tv.. I just don't think people realize that the more we watch any media that's free, the more cable companies and tv producers have to do to raise money to create quality programming. People here are complaining that hulu shows tv shows with ad interruption.. Seriously? Do we really think 15 dollars a month is helping to pay for the cost of creating a Lost episode?

Yet, they still manage to make a couple billion dollars per year.

I love reading rainbow
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And when prices go up, more people will leave... hence, the big changes (hopefully).

With the excpetion of the yellow first down line, you just covered a bunch of things I don't like about the game today. I don't watch pregame and postgame because it is no longer about the game. It's just a bunch of former jocks and coaches yucking it up. We have always had decent camera angles. We don't need 30 camera at a game for crying out loud. Plus, instant replay needs to die in a fire.

I would say you are definitely wrong here.

They do pay so much because they can get the money back.

They do set the price depending on what they pay for it. When the new TV contract goes up I guarantee ad prices go up.
Posted via Mobile Device

I said it isn't necessary to bog down every single show on Hulu with ads. When it was one 15 second ad every 15 minutes, hell even two, things were fine. Then they started jumping to 3 commercials, then 30 second commercials. Then limiting how many episodes you would watch. Then coming up with a pay model on top of all of that for anything older than 4 weeks. There is really no time difference between Hulu and regular TV now.

As our culture becomes more like the audience of Jerry Springer every day:shake:

CBB is freakin' ridiculous... there's one good angle during a CBB game, and it's not from the the top of the backboard or from the guy sitting in the corner of the court. :facepalm:

I think Nascar has more advertising than any sport.

Each car has, estimating here, at least 30 decals from multiple sponsors. The amount of camera time we are bombarded with during the entire event. '
I saw some story about some poor sap that sits in an office somewhere tallying each sponsor and calculating how much time it's logo was on screen. Pause.. Rewind.. Play... rinse and repeat hours on end. Just Shoot Me!

We all know the reason, $$$$

Here's an interesting article saying Nascar is the best deal for advertising in sports.

http://www.sbu.edu/studentresearch.aspx?id=25420

Do you get the same commercial over and over and over again during the scheduled breaks?

Don't get me started on all the BAD ANGLES they provide us with all these spiffy HD cameras!!! JFC

I really hate the damn floating camera. Completely unnecessary.

yes and yes

I click on the option in the corner that this advertisement doesn't appeal to me and they still keep popping up. :banghead:

Yeah, I learned a long time ago to not bother clicking on that.

.Um, yeah.. Because neither hulu or the network were making any money. They aren't in the business of saving you time.

I hardly watch Hulu anymore. This time of year I'm outside unless it's a inferno heat wave. I picked through most of their selection and the updates are pitiful with horrible movies.

I'm glad there's a service available out there like that, but I grow bored with it and need to find a better option.

I hate that camera angle too.. But I suggest you watch an NFL classic game from 10 years ago. It is 100 times better today.

Netflix does a kick ass job of saving me time. And don't give me that line that networks aren't making money.

8 bucks for netflix with it's larger selection and no commercial breaks is where it's at. I enjoy alot of education films and the National Geographic library is nicely sized on their servers.

Yeah and they're getting charged up the ass in licensing fees and had to raise prices. and people bitched. And they don't provide ability to watch live sports or new sitcoms.. Just old ones.

I didn't say networks aren't making money. I'm saying to create quality programming you have to make money. GE makes a shit load of money too.. That doesn't mean I'm going to call them out for not charging basement prices.

Yeah, I'm big changes like great shows like the office and lost becoming completely unaffordable to make, and sports becoming harder and harder to televise.

I know there's limit on new episodes they add netflix. Yet there are tons of old series I grew up watching as a kid and now they're just few clicks to relive my childhood again. I was busted up laughing watching all the old Chappelle show episodes. Was I entertained? Yes... Was I annoyed with commercials? No. I came away feeling better about my entertainment experience over cable or air broadcast networks anyday.

LOST is one of the reasons I don't care for TV as much now. heh What a friggin letdown that was.

LMAO Sports will always be televised you moron.

DVR and fast forward.

Yes.. Because of advertising and sponsorships.. That will never change.

And yet Tv ratings for sports are through the roof.
Posted via Mobile Device

So now we need to dictate how much money a company can make...

The problem with Hulu isn't the commercials. It's SHITTY commercials!

Tv advertising dollars is paying the salaries of the Nil players.
Posted via Mobile Device

Just install XBMC on whatever platform you run. Then install the Hulu plugin.

No ads for any Hulu show. Ever.

They are in the ENTERTAINMENT business, and getting pissed off while trying to use a product isnt very entertaining.

What is your deal anyway? You sound like the CEO of NBC.

Contrary to popular belief they are there to make money and not entertain you for free. Just like your employer is in the business to make money and are not there just to provide you a job...

You need to watch better shows. Watch AMC this Sunday for a "great" show. Not that network garbage.

What part of five hundred eighty million dollar profit last quarter is so hard to understand?

It's not the first industry to go through this.... if there's a big enough change, prices will reset. "Hey, we bought this house for $150,000 and now it's worth $500,000 five years later" = "Hey, we paid $300 million to broadcast NFL games 10 years ago, and now pay $4 billion"

Yea, I watched Rambo III last night on that channel :thumb:

I didn't read this whole thread. But if you want to lower you Cable/Sat bills you can always go this route:

1. Cancel your Cable/Sat.
2. Invest in rabbit ears for your TV, I'm guessing ~$20. Free channels are still free, and everything is digital now.
3. Netflix steaming $8.99/Mo.
4. Amazon Prime ~$80/yr. (around the cost of Netflix per month)
5. Hulu is fail since they still have commercials, and you have to pay for it. Basicaly cable TV on the internet.
6. ???
7. Profit

Downside: You miss current shows as they air.

Upside: Watch what you want, when you want. That show that you love will be on Netflix soon, and you can watch the whole season at your pace, not once a week for 5 weeks, then a 2 month break, then 2 more episodes, then a 3 week break... No commercials. Save shit tons of money.

Sports are curiously being forgotten.... I know I can get NHL GameCenter on my ps3, but they don't show the playoffs and several games are blacked out. I can get Sunday Ticket, but I assume Chiefs games would be blacked out, and I don't know if they show the playoffs. There are online streams, which I used for a couple of years, but they aren't reliable (especially the NFL, since they're pretty aggressive about getting them taken down).

Watching pretty much every game I want to see >>>> online streaming

If I could pay $200 for NHL GameCenter (and get the playoffs), $10-15/month for the basic channels in HD, and get espn3 separate from cable, I could pay $20/month just for espn3 and still come in way under what I'm paying now for all the crap I could do without.

no doubt. I NEVER watch commercials anymore. NEVER. if I wanna watch something that is starting live, I pause the damn thing and go do something else until it gets ahead enough that I can skip commercials.

technology. awesome.

Yup commercials are time to drain the last few beers, maybe take a dump and grab something from the fridge just in time to see the commercials ending

The TV viewer isn't the consumer, they're actually the product being sold.

I really only watch football, and NFL at that. I have to pay for sunday ticket since I live in Los Angeles just to see the Chiefs.

However, with all the money one could save each month on cable bills, you could easily go to a sportsbar and watch the game. But it sounds like you like all sports, so that might not be as cost effective to you.

Really my plan depends on your viewing habbits, if you must have ESPN all day everyday, or you can't stand missing the latest episode of what ever show, then probably not for you.

Sports is the only tricky part about cutting cable. I cut cable about 2 years ago, and I've been pretty happy with it, outside of live sports. In my experience the last few years, NFL has been the easiest to find good online streams. Followed by hockey(especially playoffs). College football is tough to find online, but most of the popular games are on OTA stations or ESPN, which there's always a stream for. Baseball is tough, outside of the most popular teams.

All movies/TV though, is very easily found after cutting cable. From multiple sources. Every TV show or available movie I ever want to watch is available for streaming in 720p 1-2 days after airing. I've never had an issue watching anything I want, with no need to even download anything to my hard drives.

I respect your position but honestly it seems like a lot of work to save a hundred bucks a month.

I'm not sure what you mean by a lot of work? It doesn't require any work at all. I simply launch a sports plugin and see if there's an existing stream for the game I want to watch. It will either be there or it won't. There's no work required in the process other than a few remote clicks. The unreliability of whether it will be there is the only concern.

And doing the math, I'm saving just over $850 per year, compared to when I had cable. I've found lots of other things to spend that amount on, that have turned out to be much better than television...