

PBS will have four commercial breaks per hour soon - ck2
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/business/media/31adco.html

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ck2
IMHO this is going to kill personal donations and "silent"
foundation/corporate donations because who is going to see them as a worthy
non-profit entity after this point?

Also, they could more easily lose congressional funding once they demonstrate
this model of income.

Very sad day for US culture.

Just imagine the news about something nasty the oil or coal industry just did
and then there's a cut-away to a commercial from big oil telling you how
wonderful they are.

Or commercials in the middle of Nova and Antique Roadshow.

~~~
wccrawford
Actually, they aren't adding -more- commercials, they're just moving them
around. Instead of an almost 8 minute commercial break after a show, it'll
happen in 4 shorter segments during the show.

As the article says, this is to combat the mass exodus that occurs after each
show, which makes it hard to interest the viewers in the next show.

~~~
antubbs
I had the same gut reaction when I saw the headline, but concur -- the article
makes it clear that this is a move to adjust when the same material is
presented, not the introduction of new advertisements in the program.

As a consumer of such things I certainly like the uninterrupted viewing, but
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not likely to sit around for the content
at the end.

~~~
ck2
It's a foot-in-the-door approach. Once you get people used to four program
break-in, you just add more commercials to each break.

Anyone that doesn't think that will happen over time is naive.

~~~
kiiski
But anyone who is sure it will happen is a cynic ;)

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pragmatic
[http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2011/03/17/how-could-
npr-...](http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2011/03/17/how-could-npr-stations-
shut-down/)

"NPR stations have been given an enormously valuable asset, i.e., spectrum,
for free. They can and do make money from this asset by selling corners of the
spectrum to digital data services. They can make money by selling commercials,
as nearly all NPR stations seem to. Even with no tax dollars or donations,
shouldn’t an NPR station be financially unsinkable? They might not be able to
pay executives $400,000 per year, but it should be more profitable to keep the
station going than to shut it down, since they get their #1 asset (the
spectrum) for free. What am I missing?"

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rbanffy
Suggestion: disclose the budget during the programming breaks. Show how much
PBS has, how much does it cost and how much they have to get from advertising
in order to make ends meet. That way, donors can make informed decisions
knowing that when the needle is back in the green the commercials will go
away.

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marcinw
I'm semi-alright with them moving towards four commercials per hour (every 20
min would be better). One thing I hope they do not do, as other stations have
done, is place those ridiculous promotions (often for other shows) in the
bottom corners of the screen, covering vital information such as a
interviewee's name, location, and other text, etc.

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bane
Next up? Ghosthunter!

 _sigh_

~~~
M1573RMU74710N
This is one of my biggest fears, aside from PBS going away all together.
Commercials I an deal with for the most part.

I don't mind that sort of programming being on TV, but it seems to be slowly
taking over all the formerly prestigious cable channels like History, TLC,
etc.

I was raised on PBS, it's been there for me when I couldn't afford cable, and
now with more and more schlock on the TV it's one of my last refuges.

I donate when I can, but I still worry about their funding being cut. Then who
knows what sort of compromises they'll have to make.

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markkat
It seems to me that those at the helm do not understand their product.

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click170
This is sad indeed, however as someone who downloads my media instead of
subscribing to advertising-infested cable, I don't think this is going to
impact me much more than reducing the length of the show by a couple of
minutes.

You certainly don't see BBC Horizon going this route, I wonder why that could
be. </sarcasm>

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Goladus
I don't understand why they have to go from zero breaks to four per hour. Why
not just one or two? A break every hour is not too bothersome and sometimes
convenient or even welcome. A break every half-hour is sometimes disruptive
but not too bad, and certainly understandable if the programs are only an hour
to begin with. But an interruption every 15 minutes and the fragmentation
starts to become irritating, even if the promotional content is not as
offensive as typical television advertising.

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pragmatic
[http://legislativeaudit.sd.gov/Reports/State/Educational%20T...](http://legislativeaudit.sd.gov/Reports/State/Educational%20Telecommunications%20Board%20of%20Directors%202009.pdf)

Over half the revenues for our state Public Broadcasting comes from the state.

Anyone know where the money Congress allocates goes? Does it flow to the
states for funding or does it support the development of programming?

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pragmatic
I'd like to see them try to go without government funding. Could they maintain
the same standards with just donations and small commercial spots?

It would be an interesting experiment. As a kid who grew up with only 3 TV
channels and one of those PBS, I have a soft spot for it. My child watches PBS
Kids. They really have some excellent and entertaining children's shows.

They broadcast 3 hi-def channels in our area.

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pragmatic
There has been advertising on PBS for a long time.

I have a four year old at home. Chucky Cheese is on constantly at the end of
each show. We don't turn away b/c usually we are waiting for the next show to
come on.

PBS streams a lot of their content. There is zero advertising on the (pbs
kids) web site (that I have seen).

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timinman
Here's hoping they don't go as far as Biggest-Loser-style 'in-show' commercial
placements.

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naeem
I agree it's a sad day in US culture, but did anyone really suspect otherwise?
How long can you really stay on air in this day and age commercial-free?

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TheAmazingIdiot
I already don't watch much of them, as whenever shows I like are on, it
invariably is the "Nag Week".

