Since when does American Movie Classics have @(%)#* commercials?

[Rabrrrrrr]

What the fuck is up with this? The whole idea behind AMC was that there was no commercials - the whole movie, all the way through, no interruption, with a nice guy to introduce it.

When did this commercial bullshit begin?

What's the point of even having the goddamn channel any more?

Fuck this bullshit.

Fuck you, AMC!!!

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. Several years ago

But before they started running non-classic films.

Way I heard it, AMC nearly lost its trousers to TCM.

[Left Is Write]

2. I have no idea. If you want a whole movie, all the way through...

with a nice guy to introduce it, you'll have to watch TCM.

[GOPisEvil]

3. It's been a while now.

It sucks. A lot.

At least there's Turner Classic Movies.

[datasuspect]

4. since when does IFC have commercials?

kinda reminds me of bravo - when it first came out they had artsy shit (so did a&e).


now lots of schlock and plenty of ads.

[LSdemocrat]

5. At least a few years now

[NewJeffCT]

6. Watch the all new Galactica in like 6 minutes

then you can calm down

[Left Is Write]

7. While we're on the subject...

Does anyone remember when cable TV was supposed to be commercial-free, period? That was the idea behind PAYING for it. Broadcast television was free, because ad revenue paid the bills. The premise behind cable - pay TV - was that it would eliminate the need for commercials.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Yeah, it's fuckin' bullshit

We pay to get channels so that we can watch commercials; and so that those channels can now crank out every show they have on DVDs, and rake in even more money.

It's the greatest, government sponsored monopoly ever.

[Kat45]

9. I remember that.

That was the whole point of it: you paid for the channels and didn't get commercials. IIRC, it wasn't censored either. Does anyone remember when they started adding commercials?

[RoyGBiv]

10. Slight disagreement ...

This confuses the idea behind "cable TV" and all the new channels that developed to be broadcast on cable. Those channels were marketed initially as "commercial free or nearly so" because subscriptions would pay for them. But cable TV itself has a different history and was originally intended for communities outside major metropolitan areas or in other poor reception areas where residents couldn't get even the network channels reliably. The idea, in other words, was paying for better reception than over-the-air broadcasts could bring. There was never any doubt that the channels broadcast would have commercials because that's all that was available at the time.

And then marketing gurus got involved and created the idea of what you're describing, promptly abandoning it when they realized the profits that could be made both from per-subscriber rates charged to cable companies *and* commercials.

I'll go back into my hole now. :-)

[SoCalDem]

11. What KILLS me is that The Learning Channel is now

nothing more than schlocky house makeovers. and A&E is nothing but old crime show reruns, and Discovery is mostly crap..(old crap, at that)..

The only thing I like about my tv set up (Dish-everything package) Is that I get several University of California channels (great lectures) Berkeley, Davis, Santa Barbara, San Diego etc.. and I get at least 6 great PBS channels..

The only stuff I ever watch on the premium channels:

Deadwood
Dead Like Me (until they killed it :cry:..)
Independent Film Channel
Sopranos

and the occasional special

[Lavender Brown]

14. I used to like A&E, before all this Gotti reality show kind of stuff

It's totally useless now.

[Floogeldy]

12. Where the fuck have you been?

Good gawd, man. That happened long ago and I sent them several profanity-laden E-mails as a result.

Turner Classic Movies is our only refuge, now. They are showing the R&R movie now, with Richie Valens and Chuck Berry.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. I had twelve years without a TV

And then got TV a little more than a year ago, but only with basic channels, and just upgraded a fcew weeks ago to the bigger cable package.

SO I've been out of the loop for a long time.