How Do Infomercials 'fullfill the public interest'?

[vibe]

Why "infomercial?" Isn't that a politically correct (or well devised marketing term) for a commercial with no programming whatsoever?
Since I've never bought anything from an infomercial or home type shopping network, they don't serve MY interest in any way, shape, or form. It must serve someone's interest.
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[ding12]

Used to be a time when Independents would show nothing but Cartoons, Movies and Syndicated Reruns. And the All Night Hours were usually a MOVIES TILL DAWN type of show. Those Were The Days!

In one way its sorta coming back. A few stations have picked up affiliation with RTV (Retro Television Network) and are airing this content on their subchannel. For example, Allentown WFMZ 69 weekend has mostly infomercials on the weekends on the primary feed. But on the digital subchannel, there is content (movies, dramas, few sitcoms). And WSAH and WMFP to air RTV on the primary feed, displacing the infomercials.

 

[NHRadio]

WSAH isn't scheduled to carry RFN until July. WMFP runs infomercials starting at midnight weekdays through about 8am. On weekends I think the paid program parade starts at 1 or 2am.
I rarely watch TV during those hours anyway...and if I'm awake there's plenty of other content to distract me. As far as I'm concerned, 8 hours of overnight crap is a small price to pay for having an RTN affiliate I can watch.

But on the digital subchannel, there is content (movies, dramas, few sitcoms). And WSAH and WMFP to air RTV on the primary feed, displacing the infomercials.

 

[gr8oldies]

The operator of the station gets to decide how to run it. If showing an informercial at 3am or late Sunday morning keeps the lights turned on so the station can continue to operate, so be it. If you're complaining about people losing their jobs, yet you would like the government to come in and eliminate the only source of rfevenue in the wee hours..well, how many people get laid off when the informercials go away. You could argue that anything other than local news and PBS doesn't "serve the public interest" either. If the informercails have an audience, at least some members of the public are being served "of course we have the argument about who is really "the public"? is it only policy wonks and local officials?).

As for EMF..no, I don't like everything they do but they serve an audience that the locally-based stations refuse to, or can't afford to. I have friends who love the format and contribute financially. If they have a substantial audience, does a govermment offical come in and say "sorry, you have to lose ypur Contemporary Christian..it's more impoortant that someone does swap shop". We are well-served by religious stations that have been on the air for decades, however not one has ever been willing to drop it's talk/teaching programming. So does EMF serve the public interest? Sorry, but I'll say yes.

 

[NeilRattigan]

Of course infomercials fulfill the public interest.

How else can I learn about Jack LaLanne's power juicer, and Ron Popeil's spray-on hair!?

 

[gr8oldies]

Nobody could light a car on fire like Mike Levy.

 

[azumanga]

The operator of the station gets to decide how to run it. If showing an informercial at 3am or late Sunday morning keeps the lights turned on so the station can continue to operate, so be it. If you're complaining about people losing their jobs, yet you would like the government to come in and eliminate the only source of rfevenue in the wee hours..well, how many people get laid off when the informercials go away.

How did TV stations survive prior to the 1990s infomercial explosion? The only infomercial that I knew of prior to the 1980s were the occasional infomercials for "Shop Smith" power tools. I find it kind of amazing that the same stations that ran no infomercials for the previous 30 to 50 years now devote alot of time to them today. Personally, I don't want to see infomercials banned -- but I would like to see some regulation of them, as well as the stations taking a closer look at the infomercials they show (especially get-rich-quick schemes, diet pills, and colon blow laxatives). Yes, stations do deny responsibility by showing a disclaimer before and after each infomercial, but the quality and the questionability of the products and services featured would actually "cheapen" the station.

As for EMF..no, I don't like everything they do but they serve an audience that the locally-based stations refuse to, or can't afford to ... So does EMF serve the public interest? Sorry, but I'll say yes.

Except that when the LPFM licenses went up for grabs several years ago, most of them went to the Christian networks, who program them via satellite. Even though they do technically serve in the public interest, there were many prospective local broadcasters who were shut out, and lost their chance to broadcast terrestrially, as the slots were taken up by national Christian networks (or even local, full-powered Christian stations whose main signal covers the same area just fine), and there's no more room available.

 

[NHRadio]

Let's not forget such charlatans as the infamous translator scofflaw Brian Dodge. If you don't know the name google "Brian Dodge complaint".

Except that when the LPFM licenses went up for grabs several years ago, most of them went to the Christian networks, who program them via satellite. Even though they do technically serve in the public interest, there were many prospective local broadcasters who were shut out, and lost their chance to broadcast terrestrially, as the slots were taken up by national Christian networks (or even local, full-powered Christian stations whose main signal covers the same area just fine), and there's no more room available.

 

[imhomerjay]

How did TV stations survive prior to the 1990s infomercial explosion? The only infomercial that I knew of prior to the 1980s were the occasional infomercials for "Shop Smith" power tools. I find it kind of amazing that the same stations that ran no infomercials for the previous 30 to 50 years now devote alot of time to them today.

You need to look at the bigger picture. From the 1990s onward, there's been an explosion in channels on TV. The relative handful of specialty channels from the 1980s gave way to the hundreds today. The advertising pie is only so large, even if it is somewhat dynamic. 30-50 years back is irrelevant--the economic models have changed, and stations havd adapted (all the more reason the government should stay the heck out of things).

 

[gr8oldies]

In the case of EMF, you have listeners opening their own checkbooks to support this format. What could be more in the public interest than that? I have friends who travel and always go on the website to find the KLove affiliate where they are going, and LIKE the fact that they can hear the same programming as back home. No, no one's talking about potholes on Main St., but it definately serves an enthusiastic audience.

 

[Chad-Stevens]

Once a product goes mainstream and is sold at big box retailers - some of which even have "As Seen On TV" sections - do the infomercials, as opposed to traditional 30 sec. spots, do any good?

I suppose there is a slippery slope in determining what constitutes public interest. If infomercials do'nt, what about syndicated reruns, televangelists, or foreign language programming?

 

[landtuna]

I suppose there is a slippery slope in determining what constitutes public interest. If infomercials do'nt, what about syndicated reruns, televangelists, or foreign language programming?

I'm not sure the slope is all that slippery.

Syndicated, or not, reruns are entertainment. Don't think there is any argument about that.

Televangelists, much as I personally abhor them, can be seen in the same vein as Bishop Sheen and other mainstream religious hosts.

And what, exactly, is "foreign language" programming? We are a nation of many cultures and, although primarily English, it is by far not the only language spoken. If "public" includes all residents of this country then why would programming in their native language not be in their interest?

Thanks to the DTV conversion we in Phoenix now have several full-time infomercial stations (albeit all LP). I see no justification in licensing any station for the sole purpose of airing commercials. Hopefully, they will die on the vine.

 

[gr8oldies]

They won't die as long as people are buying stuff sold on the infomercials. the producers track what sales come from what stations, so obviously if they keep buying time, they're making money by being on the station.

 

[imhomerjay]

In other words, the free market will work, and the government can save my tax money by staying the heck out of content regulation.

 

[briancraig]

I agree the government should stay out of content regulation.

But what about my idea that if a local station's programming is mainly infomercials then they forfeit the right to have "must carry" status on cable systems in the market.

If I own the cable company, why should the government force me to carry a station that is all advertisements and has no entertainment or public service value?

 

[TheRover]

We're essentially living now under Corporatism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism

What's good for business .... is by definition ... good for the "public interest".

What used to be really in the public interest, when those statutes were written, has now been subverted to business concerns.

Anything that increases credit card debt is really really good for some someone's..... and they really spread their lobby money around to many many lawmakers.

You see it now.

"We The People that own the Corporations" . . .

 

[Mario500]

At 7:30 PM last night, WKRG-TV in Mobile aired a paid commercial program instead of "Without A Trace". The station quietly replaced the 9:00 AM newscast on weekdays with paid programming recently. Before the cancellation, the station shortened the 9:00 AM newscast to half an hour on Fridays.

WPMI-TV recently replaced syndicated programs such as "Family Feud" at 12:30 PM on weekdays for paid programming. The station also airs paid programming at 3:00 PM every other weekday instead of "Judge Joe Brown".

WALA-TV quietly replaced the talk show titled "The Karen DeKay Show" after only a few months on the air with another hour of paid programming on Sundays at 9:00 AM.

 

[BRNout]

In the case of EMF, you have listeners opening their own checkbooks to support this format. What could be more in the public interest than that? I have friends who travel and always go on the website to find the KLove affiliate where they are going, and LIKE the fact that they can hear the same programming as back home. No, no one's talking about potholes on Main St., but it definately serves an enthusiastic audience.

If that were the yardstick by which the "public interest" is served, then it would certainly include infomercials, scam artists and PBS. Of those 3 groups, only the latter realistically meets that definition. The first two simply bilk people out of money by dangling some perceived "value" in front of them. Whether EMF Broadcasting provides a perceived value is subject to discussion.

If someone wants to pay money to support it, that's one thing. But it's also a thing that need not result in the removal of hundreds of radio programming choices and local content in communities across this country. And that's exactly the issue with EMF. They carpet bomb hard-hit owners in poorer markets with big money offers. The end result is a radio dial in places like Utica, NY and Bangor, ME which have seen the loss of several mainstream formats in exchange for 100% satellite fed programming on multiple full-powered and translator signals all over the countryside. Areas that are neither particularly religious and less so protestant/evangelist. No care whatsoever is taken with regard to try to tailor Arkansas-type programming to listeners in Ellsworth, Maine or DuBois, PA or Farmington, NH. None, it's all the same feed. Does THAT serve the 'public interest' for listeners in those communities? From my vantage point, an emphatic NO. About the only interest I have seen served in these deals is that of the station owner who drives off into comfortable retirement. The market he leaves has at least one less choice on the radio (in some cases, 2 or 3 less choices).

And, as said before, EMF has money during a time when others don't because they use religion to prompt average people to open their checkbooks. Somehow, these types of formats manage to have an unlimited supply of donated money; quite unlike PBS. Interesting how that works. Could it be because PBS run pledge drives based on your eternal judgment? Hmmmm....

Given all that, this is one of the few examples for which I think governmental intervention (in this case, the FCC) is warranted. Because it's out of control. Owners should not be allowed to simply program 500+ automated satellite stations (24/7) from a single point. And, no, it's not the same thing as syndicated programming - where a local component still remains. With the EMF stations, there's none at all. Zero local content, no local news, no local anything. And that is the problem here - beyond all else. Greed, cloaked as something else, pure and simple.

 

[TheRover]

EX-Cowboys Coach and Fox NFL Sunday co-host Jimmy Johnson all over the Better Trades Informercial . . . .

Isn't that a public interest ? ? ? ?

A seminar is coming near you ! !

 

[Bongwater]

Infomercials fill only one interest and that's some hustler pocketbooks.

Broadcast TV, I can perhaps understand the need for them to pay the power bill after hours - WAY LATE, totally after hours. ALL infomercial broadcast TV channels should have their licenses revoked. Cable TV channels we PAY for as far as I'm concerned should NEVER have the right to run infomercials (ESPECIALLY on the high end digital grid.)