Cable Channels Speed Up TV Shows To Cram In More Ads – Consumerist

[Panich52]

Anyone who’s watched a syndicated TV show on basic cable is already familiar with some methods of trimming the fat off of shows — shorter opening credits, sped-up closing credits that may overlap on-screen ads or the next show — but what you may not have noticed is that some cable networks are actually speeding up shows and movies to squeeze in more commercials.
This is according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports that TBS and others are using compression technology to play content back at a slightly faster clip in order to get a few more seconds of air time for ads.
Reruns of Seinfeld, Friends, and other shows are getting the rapid playback treatment on top pay-TV networks like TNT and TBS, and most people are none the wiser. And even movie classics are being sped up, as one expert on The Wizard of Oz noticed during a recent airing on TBS.
“Their voices were raised a notch,” he tells the Journal about the already high-pitched Munchkin characters in the 1939 film.

Some cable channels have gotten so edit- and compression-happy that they can now fit in more than 20 minutes of ads each hour, several minutes more than what you’ll find on most prime-time network broadcasts.

While you might assume that TV advertisers would be happy with more opportunities for running their commercials, not everyone in the ad business is thrilled about all this cramming.

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http://consumerist.com/2015/02/19/cable-channels-speed-up-tv-shows-to-cram-in-more-ads/

[hollysmom]

1. I thought I was losing it.

there ar some shows where I can't listen to them any more. I have to run closed captions because I can't hear the conversation - hear as in like follow, it moves too fast for me. Now some were first run shows that I was watching on request. still the sound seemed to fast so many words in so few minutes.

[Howler]

2. ooooo! good!

They are killing off the rest of commercial t.v. quickly!!! Who is going to sit through 20 minutes of commercials on cable stations for an absurd price when you can go to Netflix or DVDs !!!???

[Lint Head]

3. Television is a dying medium. Advertisers will have to

come up with a new business model.

[Romeo.lima333]

5. their new business model will be to buy up and destroy the internet, like they did with music and

over-the-AIr broadcasting

[Lint Head]

8. True.

[sakabatou]

4. For a 30 minute show there's usually 22-24 minutes of programming

For a 1 hour show it's usually 42-44 minutes. Though, yeah, there seems to be more commercials than programming.

[Ilsa]

6. BBC America has edited content

out of STNG to get more ad time. Sometimes they remove meaningful scenes if they aren't action sequences.

[fadedrose]

7. One nasty thing they do is

show the normal amount of commercials at the beginning and middle of the program.

Then they withhold the last minute of the program that has the solution or ending to the story, and show a commercial that seems like it's 4 minutes long, or longer, with more than 15 lightning-fast commercials, that you have to watch to see the last minute (or less) of the program.

And after the quicky ending has been shown, they show the long commercial break that comes between programs.

Pay TV is here.

[daredtowork]

9. I noticed this!!!

On a foreign TV show, where it was much more noticeable. Wow! Glad to have this confirmed.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. This is why I record all my basic cable and network shows.

I really, really hate commercials.

[pstokely]

11. The same channel that runs SD programs in stretch-o-vision, and ran colorized B&W movies

nt