yelyah - “roll with the punch bowl 20111028” piano improv
What the networks don’t seem to understand is they’re not really competing with cable/OTA access providing a service for people who forgot to watch a show. They’re competing with piracy.
Let’s see:
piracy
- no ads
- I can watch the show on any device
- I can download it once and be assured that it will play all the way through without needing to buffer
- I can watch the show mere hours after it’s premiered
the networks (Hulu not included)
Some of them have sites and media players that are downright hostile.
Visit Fox’s site (without even loading a show) and they automatically play a commercial. Any site that auto plays anything with sound should be shot. Playing an ad with sound and you deserve a special place in hell.
Commercials that are way louder than the content. I’m pretty sure there are laws against this for actual broadcasts. Apparently, the networks don’t think they should have to do this online.
Playing the same commercial at every single commercial break (Parvati Shallow: I have no idea who you are, but I already hate you).
Constantly kicking you out of fullscreen mode (I remember ABC’s player used to (and maybe still does) do this). CBS kicks you out of fullscreen if you dare pause the video.
Heaven forbid you should need to reload a video on CBS’ site. First, it doesn’t remember where you were, but worse, you get to sit through several different commercial breaks since their player isn’t smart enough to realize that you just fast forwarded, ergo, you shouldn’t have to rewatch every single commercial break again.
Fox, who are you kidding with your 8 day delay?
Hulu is the only site that’s gotten anything right, though they themselves are subject to the networks’ stupid delays.
I’m done with CBS. Their media player is a POS and my time and patience are more valuable than the entertainment value I get out of their shows (The Good Wife being the only exception).
For me, despite how easy piracy is, the networks are actually competing with my laziness. Streaming means I can give random things a try because there’s not much to lose. Downloading something means I have to deliberately decide to watch it. For me, this generally ends up meaning that I don’t watch the shows at all (or I end up waiting for it to come out on DVD and snag it for free from the library).
Writing this, also reminded me that I had once ranted about the total destruction of “Harry’s Law”. And it made me realize that I haven’t thought about that show ever since I wrote the rant. So when I say I’m giving CBS the boot (cough, good wife), I probably mean it.
Bye bye, CBS.
