I smile to myself when I hear the Television Channels rabbiting on about retaining viewer loyalty!....what a joke especially at what viewers of Channel Nine would have found last night if they had tried to watch the programmed "Tennis" due to air at 11pm ( which in itself is a big enough deterrent, due to the time slot!)....I went to bed at 11.20pm in disgust at the over-run of the good old parochial "The Footy Show", which indicates to me that "Footy postmortems" are assumed to be of more interest to the mentality of the viewing public than watching our own Tennis players compete on the world stage?

I turned on the radio at about 11.45pm and heard the presenter say that he would check on any results from Wimbledon as soon as he could, as Channel Nine still had "The Footy Show" running!....at that stage I switched off in disgust and went to sleep!

In recent years I have noticed the increasing arrogance of the commercial Television Channels, who seem to be regularly cutting the content of programmes, inserting more commercial advertising, deafening anyone with "normal" hearing with their increased volume at commercial breaks (then lying about it, claiming technicalities are responsible!) and regularly over-running programme ending times!

Television Channel managers... ( especially Channel Nine)... this is just not good enough and if you want to retain viewers you MUST do better!....we the viewers are NOT the low mentality vegetables that you seem to think worthy of your drivel,...and some of us older viewers have respect for our hearing standards!

its funny..i can agree with the concept..[but for differeing reasons]..as most would know..i hate watching/sport..and to me there is too much of the roman-esque type distraction of the mmmasses

channel ten has sunk the lowest,..going for the pathetic,followed closly by 9,then the abc,channel 7 is getting into a bit of news..[but no where near as thoughilly as sbs and bris 31]..although genericlly..they are all pretty much worthless

we hear constantly..the media's/distractions..[not to be missed is how..the twitter phenonina..lol..was unleased on us/collectivly a few weeks back..[coincidentilly just before the twitter revolution..lol..in iran..[that twitter is controlled by the intel services of usa..dont rate a mention..[but explains much]

anyhow the topic is loyalty..[what a joke..when we all been betrayed by the media]..their loyalty is to the advertiser..and their banker's/controlers..the mind control..of the box..is renouned..

its been told/revealed..that within seconds of watching tv..we enter a susseptable hypnotic/state..[that sees us flock to these one/or 2 dollar a day services/insurances and web acces/phone providers..[not the mention the food programing..[to get an allready fat nation snacking..before their god of light[tv]

the facinating sports broad-casting..of god heads..before swine.is blatently obvious..[especially at weekend..[where if real/news was rebroadcast..in lue of the sports feeds..the wage slaves could reason out whats being done to them..[globally]..but thats not the plan man

its funny how some italian dictator..having sex with some tart..is news[or some govener..in some obscure us state..having an affair..is news..or how the twitter evolution is broadcast with it pathetic small groups..acting up/staging a virtual...youtube/twitter before their fellow/blackberry twit-wits in the media...

we are expected..via the box..to swallow people being thrown off bridges..[like we swallowed the lie of babies being tossed from incubators..when sad man insane..took over his peoples oilwells..[but israel autrocity..is not allowed to be aired,..the woman run over by a tank protecting palistein homes being demolished..wasnt news

but a twitwit..with make up..filmed shakilly on a phone is..[if it meets the adgenda of the twitter twitwits owners..[and their arm..the media..selling us judge judy.cop/cooking shows and sport..[more than half the news is sport...news is actualy interupted with upcoming sport..bah humbug

"Channel loyalty" is, I suspect, a myth that is carefully nurtured by the various TV Station sales departments when they negotiate with their advertisers.

If you follow the numbers on a day-to-day basis, you quickly find that the reality is - as you would expect - "Programme loyalty".

People watch Programmes, not Channels.

Duh.

A channel might get a reputation within the industry for being more astute in its selection of overseas programmes to show here. Similarly, a channel might get a reputation within the industry for commissioning "good" local material. And they might use that reputation to extract the maximum in revenue from their advertisers.

But the real test is the success or otherwise of the programme when it hits the airwaves.

But Crackcup's underlying gripe, I notice, is the contempt in which the TV stations hold their audience, in the pursuit of viewer figures that can translate into advertising revenue.

You are forced to the conclusion that there are more people in TV management motivated to increase revenue, than there are who are motivated to increase viewer happiness.

Should that surprise us?

Crackup, I think you must be in Melbourne.
I visit Melbourne a few times a year and I find the footy coverage
overwhelming. It is nowhere near as bad in Sydney.
My wife was watching the tennis last night until about 11pm so we did
not get that problem here.

I bought a new TV recently and in the setup I found a control that
does not allow the increased level during adverts.
The TV stations have a box in the audio line that increases the
compression during adverts.
I agree ch10 is the dead end of the lot.
My pet peeve is the inane questions the reporters ask, like
"How did you feel when your little boy was run over ?"
I am sure they have a school for inane questioning.

Also why the hell do they think we are interested in some US state
governor is having it off with an Argentinian. Really !

My biggest is peeve the four yearly, one year marathon US elections
that we are hammered with. Absolutely enraged at it !
I cut the sound but you have to watch to see when it ends.

I basically agree with what has been said so far, but what I find extraordinary is that people actually watch the advertisements. I just spend a few minutes each evening deciding what I want to watch and then record automatically anything on a commercial channel. I have 3 recording mediums and find that not only does it save a great deal of time...........60 minutes is only 45 minutes after zapping the advertisements..........but I can watch what I want when I want and not be distracted by something that always irritates me.

Unfortunately, television stations are not stupid and seem to cater for the lowest common denominator because they know the majority of viewers are either rabid "footy" fans or obsessed with celebrities. The stations always over run their time slot in an attempt to make you watch the end and not switch to another station. So keeping you "loyal"

What I also find unfortunate is the way documentaries and movies seem to require electronically produced background sound now, that is as loud, or louder than the actual dialogue. This is supposed to engender some kind of "atmosphere" to give impact, but again I could well do without it, particularly as my hearing is not as acute as it used to be. Sometimes a little music is acceptable, but nowadays we are supposed to like "popular" music in lifts, in supermarkets and in every other walk of life. I am afraid I am too long in the tooth to understand the discordant mind numbing cacophony that passes under the name of music these days.

Agree Snake,
Back in the days of valve TVs I modified my TV so that
I could hit a button on the remote control and both sound and vision
went off till the adverts end.
How did I do that you ask !
Easy if you watch when the adverts end they go to black.
I used that black period to turn sound & video back on.
Worked quite well, seldom failed.

Another peeve I agree is running over the half hour.
Channel nine is particularly bad at that and it is quite deliberate.
However I now have a PRV recorder which will record two channels at
the same time so that solves that, I just record to the 40 or 45
minute point.

BTW, my son was in the TV station business and the reason we get so
much pap news items from the US is that they are cheap like free
most of the time. Much cheaper than thinking up some interesting
local news item. That is why I watch the ABC despite the political
in built bias.
What bias on the ABC never Belly !
My son was told when he went to work at the ABC not to tell anyone
if he voted liberal as it could affect his career.
He was told that the only people in the closet at the ABC
are Liberal voters.

Bazz:

No I am not in Melbourne, I am in Queensland so that might explain some of the problem,....it appears that things certainly do work differently up here in the land of perpetual darkness!

People would be surprised if they knew exactly how backward things are in the regional centres of S.E.Qld. For example, in the Wide Bay area we have exhausted all efforts to buy decent meat, even after paying $32 per kilo for so-called "Top Quality" Rib Fillet, we still can get only rubbish! The prime Lamb available through ALL of the Butcher shops is Hogget being sold at Prime Lamb prices around $16 to $18 per Kg, and we have no choice but take it or leave it!
We are now starting to think that we must be just too fussy to be expecting to buy good meat in this area and I am now starting to think that most people around the area have become used to eating crap and wouldn`t know a good piece of steak if it bit them on the ass!

The fruit and vegetables are all 2nd grade quality and all seem to dissolve into slime after a few days, indicating that the fruit and vegetables in question have been fast grown on chemical fertilizer or growth promotant, three days in the refrigerator and it is all over, reduced to slime,....imagine what these products are doing to our insides and is it any wonder there is so much cancer around?

All in all, ....it is apparent that the Wide Bay/Burnett area is just a dumping ground for all the sub-standard fruit and vegetables that are being produced around Australia. The potatoes if not sprouting at time of purchase, are well under way to self destruction after just a few days! Carrots and Capsicums simply turn black with some type of rot after a few days and dissolve into a slimy mess,....yet nobody sems to care, or alternatively feel that there is nothing that they can do to change the situation,....it is SAD!

I find turning the thing off works well.

There's like 5 or 6 shows I make an effort to watch in a week and the rest can hang. I don't bother watching movies on the tele, probably excluding a Sunday on the couch, but usually sport dominates....wouldn't mind if it was sport I Liked, but it's the same old every week.

I'd get pay tele, but just can't justify it, and I like to turn it off and either read or shoot the breeze online with friends - due to where I live.

Free to Air is free so we can't really complain about the content. Don't like it?, turn it off. It's a shame its become the nucleus of the household.

I agree Crackcup. Pure spin by the marketing moguls to impress each other and their sponsors.

Viewers watch a program because they like it not because they are loyal to Channel X. I watch mainly the ABC not because I am loyal because they have better programs.

In reality a loyal channel viewer when interviewed would come across like this - "DUH DOH Err.. gee whiz yeh man I am loyal to Channel 10 mate, I never watch any other channel..DUH..even if I hate the shows..Yeh man.. I think I might go now and hit myself over the head with a mallett...yeah see ya dude!!"