"Old Time TV" Banner ad

[anotherguyTN]

Occcasionally on the TV boards I'll see a banner ad come up for "Old Time TV". I'll admit that some older shows are possibly in the public domain and are OK for them to be selling, but others are sets of shows that are available on DVD or are at least still under copyrights. They're selling a lot of bootleg sets of shows that are at least questionable on the quality, if not outright illegal.

I'll admit that with some shows that this is the only way they will ever be released on DVD, but considering that a lot of these could very well be illegal, should Radio-info really be carrying ads for this company?

 

[azumanga]

I'll admit that with some shows that this is the only way they will ever be released on DVD, but considering that a lot of these could very well be illegal, should Radio-info really be carrying ads for this company?

Another thing we should question is the reputability of Old Time TV, as some businesses that put out flashy ads and websites just take your money and run, or give you an inferior product that's not worth the money. Someone mentioned boxsets.com, a company based in Asia that sells "legal" box sets of TV shows. However, many people that bought from them complained that they never even got the item.

 

[KML0224]

At Wal-Mart, we have an ocean of those $1 DVDs, which have old b-rate cartoons, forgettable TV shows, etc. Maybe it's all stuff that's in the public domain. Again, these DVDs are $1, sooooooooo...

 

[board_manager]

We appreciate your concern on this one. However, the banner ad originates from Google. It is simply not within our capability to vet every thing they run. Think of it in the terms of a major network running an ad for a large retailer for instance. What if the retailer were selling knockoffs? How would the network really know?

I don't want to avoid the issue but ultimately we aren't qualified to play referee on what's pirated material. We have no way of knowing what the marketing arrangements are between copyright holders and retailers.

 

[Matt]

Think of it in the terms of a major network running an ad for a large retailer for instance. What if the retailer were selling knockoffs? How would the network really know?

I know what I would do if I were running that network. There, I would have the investigatory resources to find out if the rumors of said major retailer selling knockoffs was true. Once I was convinced of the truth of it, two things would happen...

1) Master Control would get a memo stating that under no circumstances would the particular commercial containing that content be allowed to air.

2) The salesperson who handles that retailer's account would immediately be called in to handle the problem (it's his/her commission check that's going to drop because of this).

3) Refusal of that retailer to respond and remove that commercial from their inventory airing on the network would result in them being charged ten times the rates of everybody else, and we STILL would not air the commercials selling the knockoffs.

4) Our legal team would be alerted to prepare to defend the potential lawsuit.

At the very minimum, the advertising industry would understand that we do not tolerate a retailer advertising that they sell knockoffs.

That, I believe, is how a TV network would handle such an issue. I would hope other media industries would be as vigilant.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

PS...some people hate my atitude as a local station manager, probably more would if I were in charge of a network. I'm okay with that.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I can see now how that the situation may be out of Radio-info's hands, but Google should be doing something about this, and I seriously doubt if it will happen.

It looks like the technology should exist though that would allow a website to block ads that they don't want to come from Google. I did see where there is a link for feedback to Google and I registered a comment. I doubt if it will do much good though. Google probably doesn't care as long as they get their money, unless they could be held legally responsible somehow.