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Protest the expanded ratings bug system!

K

KMRichards

Guest
I thought you all might want to see the text of a letter I sent the NCTA, the industry organization that has forced the larger and more frequent ratings bug down our throats.

Feel free to send letters of your own.

-----------

National Cable & Telecommunications Association
1724 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

To Whom It May Concern:

I have now attempted to live with your organization’s mandate that its member networks both increase the size of the television ratings “bug” and redisplay it after every commercial break. And, rather than becoming accustomed to it, I find that I am more annoyed now than I was when this mandate took effect at the beginning of June.

Those members of the viewing public that you are attempting to appease, will, in my opinion, see your action as proof that they have control over your member networks, and I am sure that as time passes, they will demand a further intrusion onto my television screen. These are the same people who lobbied for the introduction of the “V-chip” into my television set, and if they cannot now be bothered to program it to restrict certain types of programming in their homes, no amount of displaying ratings bugs, at any size, is going to work.

As I said above, this is an intrusion into my viewing, and I resent it deeply. I am already noticing that more of my viewing is to premium channels, where this insane rule of yours does not apply. If you and your member networks continue in this vein, it is very likely that I will forego any viewing of advertiser-supported networks.

Ask yourselves a question: If, as is highly probable, there are many more television viewers like myself, how much will the “basic” networks be devalued in the eyes of the advertisers necessary to keep them in operation?

I am sending a copy of this letter to all of the advertiser-supported networks that I have watched in the past (and that I am watching less of now). I am urging every one of them to prevent viewer erosion by abandoning this foolish mandate of your organization.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
Great Letter. You know what Bugs me though...

The initial larger Big Black Bug, which blocks the Screen, when I've seen a see through clear White Bug with Black letters that doesn't seem nearly as intrusive. What's the bottom line on the Bug law my Electronic Entomological Friend?

> I thought you all might want to see the text of a letter I
> sent the NCTA, the industry organization that has forced the
> larger and more frequent ratings bug down our throats.
>
> Feel free to send letters of your own.
>
> -----------
>
> National Cable & Telecommunications Association
> 1724 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
> Washington, DC 20036
>
> To Whom It May Concern:
>
> I have now attempted to live with your organization’s
> mandate that its member networks both increase the size of
> the television ratings “bug” and redisplay it after every
> commercial break. And, rather than becoming accustomed to
> it, I find that I am more annoyed now than I was when this
> mandate took effect at the beginning of June.
>
> Those members of the viewing public that you are attempting
> to appease, will, in my opinion, see your action as proof
> that they have control over your member networks, and I am
> sure that as time passes, they will demand a further
> intrusion onto my television screen. These are the same
> people who lobbied for the introduction of the “V-chip” into
> my television set, and if they cannot now be bothered to
> program it to restrict certain types of programming in their
> homes, no amount of displaying ratings bugs, at any size, is
> going to work.
>
> As I said above, this is an intrusion into my viewing, and I
> resent it deeply. I am already noticing that more of my
> viewing is to premium channels, where this insane rule of
> yours does not apply. If you and your member networks
> continue in this vein, it is very likely that I will forego
> any viewing of advertiser-supported networks.
>
> Ask yourselves a question: If, as is highly probable, there
> are many more television viewers like myself, how much will
> the “basic” networks be devalued in the eyes of the
> advertisers necessary to keep them in operation?
>
> I am sending a copy of this letter to all of the
> advertiser-supported networks that I have watched in the
> past (and that I am watching less of now). I am urging
> every one of them to prevent viewer erosion by abandoning
> this foolish mandate of your organization.
>
 
Re: Great Letter. You know what Bugs me though...

> The initial larger Big Black Bug, which blocks the Screen,
> when I've seen a see through clear White Bug with Black
> letters that doesn't seem nearly as intrusive.

Does the NCTA actually require that all ratings bigs be white on black, with nothing showing through it? If they do, they must be really nuts.

In my opinion, this whole ratings thing is nuts in general.
 
Re: Great Letter. You know what Bugs me though...

> In my opinion, this whole ratings thing is nuts in general.

I would have to agree.
The only thing it does is say to kids who are being babysit by the TV, "This is going to have sex, violence, language and all the stuff that you really want to see and your parents are too lazy to configure the V-chip so you'll be watching!"

There are all sorts of parental controls on TVs which can be used, the government and others should not be a nanny and disrupt the viewing for people who don't care about ratings or e/i except for the clutter their bugs produce because a few vocal puritanical groups support bad parenting. Most of the people in such groups should shut the hell up and go home and see what the hell their kids are watching on TV. <P ID="signature">______________
WCBS = We're Crazy Buffoons and Schmucks
<a href=http://chuck.spotteddogs.org/tv/>Spotted Dog TV Talk - for all your non-news TV Talk</a></P>
 
Re: Great Letter. You know what Bugs me though...

So, will you all send letters to the NCTA?

The more letters they get, the more seriously they have to take it.

I mean LETTERS, not e-mail. As has been discussed here previously, e-mails do not have the impact of a written letter.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
I'll consider it if you answer my question?

But as you are aware of, no one can write as eloquently as you Sir!. What is the difference between the initial Big Black Bug with the White lettering that blocks out the Screen, opposed to the Clear Giant Bug with Brown/Black lettering that is almost transparent?. I only saw the Clear one once. If this has been discussed before, please don't embarrass me. As it is you only answer about 60% of my inquiries. And how was the bugless DVD?

> So, will you all send letters to the NCTA?
>
> The more letters they get, the more seriously they have to
> take it.
>
> I mean LETTERS, not e-mail. As has been discussed here
> previously, e-mails do not have the impact of a written
> letter.
>
 
Re: I'll consider it if you answer my question?

> But as you are aware of, no one can write as eloquently as
> you Sir!. What is the difference between the initial Big
> Black Bug with the White lettering that blocks out the
> Screen, opposed to the Clear Giant Bug with Brown/Black
> lettering that is almost transparent?. I only saw the Clear
> one once. If this has been discussed before, please don't
> embarrass me. As it is you only answer about 60% of my
> inquiries. And how was the bugless DVD?

I have been unable to determine why some networks do bugs one way and others another way. There seems to be little in the way of standards other than minimum sizes for the bugs; the closest I could find was this, from the producer guidelines of American Public Television:

The icon should be 52 scan lines high and have at least a 70% density. Either a white background with black text or a black background with white text may be used to ensure that the icon can be clearly seen against any program opening.

I have been too busy with projects to sit down and watch the DVDs yet. I want to have a block of a few hours before I do. Patience, grasshopper.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
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