Why Can't They Stick To the Schedule

[Julius Leonard Marx]

For several weeks, CBS was starting a 90 minute version of 60 Minutes at 7:30. Now they've gone back to posting a 7:00 pm start time. The football game never ends by 7pm. The entire Sunday evening schedule is screwed up. TiVo recordings are screwed up. Fox posts a 7:30 end time for football games but CBS lies. CBS does not follow their published schedule. They should have their license revoked and Moonvies should be arrested and charged with fraud and false advertising. Write the FCC. Make networks stick to their published schedules.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

This has been a pet peeve of mine for years. Since no football game gets over in 3 hours anymore, they need to start allotting 4 hours for the game instead of 3. Maybe start them at 3 PM instead of 4 PM.

I can't believe networks execs are so stupid that they can't figure this out.

Either that, or go back to the way it was before the 'Heidi' game.

 

[BRNout]

FOX seems to have figured it out. They allot the 7-8 pm hour on Sunday to wrap up the games and any extra time goes to their NFL studios as filler 'til 8 pm. Not sure why CBS doesn't get it.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

It sure did take a while for Fox to finally figure it out.

Also, WXIX Cincinnati (a Fox affiliate) likes to schedule college basketball games that NOBODY watches into a 2-hour time slot. These games ALWAYS run close to 3 hours, yet the station hasn't learned its lesson in all the years this has been going on. So they end up just running over popular Fox programs and joining them in progress. (Usually they bounce Fox programs to a later time if the game is actually scheduled for the show's time slot. But if the game runs over 2 hours, which it always does, the show gets joined in progress.)

What's worse is that these basketball games have NO viewers! Except the people who tune in trying to watch whatever show is on Fox that the game runs over.

 

[Vandelay]

CBS really needs to follow Fox, but they would need to shift one show, say Shark, to another night and move 60 Minutes to 8:00 and have some sort of football wrap up show to fill the end of game to 8:00 hour.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

Make networks stick to their published schedules.

So by that logic, the networks should have stuck to "The Price Is Right", "The View" and the daytime soaps and the umpteenth airing of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" on September 11th instead of going wall-to-wall with the tragedy?

Give me a break.

CBS has a good thing going with the over-runs or they wouldn't still be doing it. A football overrun almost invariably leads to higher ratings for "60 Minutes" and the programs that air afterwards. The networks don't really give a damn about TiVo/DVRs and the viewers that come in from them (yet, anyway). Why? Because joe sixpack sitting at home doesn't have one or if he does (as part of a cable box), he doesn't know how to use it.

 

[RicoGregg]

Not sure why CBS doesn't get it.

CBS hasn't gotten it ever since the Tiffany Network days of William S. Paley and the Pete Rozelle era of the NFL.

CBS = Can't Broadcast Sports

 

[genius]

After reading all the knee jerk posts here, I have one of my own: we don't have this problem out west ;D

 

[icstephen]

After reading all the knee jerk posts here, I have one of my own: we don't have this problem out west ;D

or in the grey market

 

[captex]

i do agree that sports on tv are too long and then they have the highlights after the game. more commericials that ends up to another half hour. it usually ends up to be 4 in a half to 5 hours. another thing is if they running another game before the local game and if it runs in overtime they keep the other game on. you miss you local game or most of it and that also goes for your favorite tv programs. thanks captex

 

[upstate29651]

Make networks stick to their published schedules.

So by that logic, the networks should have stuck to "The Price Is Right", "The View" and the daytime soaps and the umpteenth airing of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" on September 11th instead of going wall-to-wall with the tragedy?

Uh, I don't know where you got that analogy from, but it doesn't make a bit of sense.

G

 

[bpatrick]

I agree. It would have been inappropriate not to stay with the
story on 9/11, just as it would have been inappropriate to air
regular programs and commercials when JFK was assassinated.

I think that, since those were such out-of-the-ordinary events,
they don't even figure in a discussion of why "60 Minutes" or
other programs (like Saturday local news) don't usually get on
on time. But yes, those late starts that back up CBS's Sunday
lineup have been a gold mine since the late '70s, and I don't
think CBS will do one thing to correct it, either.

I (and probably many of you) have the "Day From The Golden
Age Of Radio" tapes (WJSV Washington, September 21, 1939);
on it is a Washington Senators-Boston Red Sox game that was
over in two hours. Why? Simple. No commercials. One team
made three outs, the teams switched places, and the game
went on. Does it make you wish those days would come back?
Does me.

 

[imhomerjay]

For several weeks, CBS was starting a 90 minute version of 60 Minutes at 7:30. Now they've gone back to posting a 7:00 pm start time. The football game never ends by 7pm. The entire Sunday evening schedule is screwed up. TiVo recordings are screwed up. Fox posts a 7:30 end time for football games but CBS lies. CBS does not follow their published schedule. They should have their license revoked and Moonvies should be arrested and charged with fraud and false advertising. Write the FCC. Make networks stick to their published schedules.

Arrests? License revocations? Ignoring the little matter that the network doesn't have a license, please, let's try to keep a bit of perspective. "Cold Case" getting underway at 9:30 in only half the country doesn't spell the end of the world. Set those TiVos and VCRs to run longer on football Sundays. (My elderly mother even figured that one out when she wanted to record a Sunday night movie.)

Sports overruns are a part of life. There's no fraud or false advertising.

 

[Julius Leonard Marx]

Some of the people who replied to my original don't seem to have read the original post.

Some seem to reflect the audience be damned attitude of the TV networks.

9-11 is a spurious argument and does not apply here. Program schedules were not pushed back. Regular programming was canceled. TV newsies do interrupt shows thoughtlessly and a lot more than necessary but that's another discussion.

This is not just about CBS saying the football broadcast will end (and 60 Minutes will start) at 7pm (6pm Central). But since this was the focus of most replies:

- The Pacific network represents a lot less than half the US population.
- CBS knows the football game is rarely over by 7 pm. For them to post a schedule saying the game ends at 7pm is false advertising. Some seem to think false advertising is OK but it does not build viewer loyalty for broadcast TV, an industry in decline.
- How does CBS lose money by scheduling the football broadcast to end at 7:30? If they schedule the broadcast to end at 7:30 they would still get to run ads after 7pm and charge corresponding ad rates. (Games would still run past 7:30 occasionally but 7:30 is a reasonable estimate). Plus CBS saves money: They only have to provide three and a half hours of programming on Sunday night. Under the current arrangement if Shark runs from 10:30 to 11:30, they end up with LESS ad revenue on an expensive-to-produce drama. Plus the local news (CBS owns most of their major market stations) gets pushed back, as well, and ad revenue for the local news is reduced.
- Please explain how CBS makes more money by saying the football broadcast ends at 7pm (and how you know this). I really doubt it.

While CBS Sunday night may be the most obvious example, it's not the only one. A few top of mind examples:

- AMC seems to "round off" their schedules and the end of movies sometimes get clipped.
- Networks, NBC especially, likes to start shows a minute or two early or late and shows get clipped when recorded.
- TV Land and Nick at Nite often shove extra commercials into shows. The show no longer runs 30 minutes but up to 35 minutes but the advertised scheduled still says 30 minutes. If you want to record/time-shift their late night sitcoms or marathons, forget it.
- Networks often decide to tweak their schedules at the last minute, too late for the changes to be included in either printed or online listings. Maybe they think this is still 1957 with only three stations and you have to get up to change channels and adjust the rabbit ears. Most people don't watch whatever comes on (unless they really don't like it). They look for programs to watch (or time-shift). If the schedule is not accurate, people miss things. So the networks replace a weak show with an extra episode of strong show at the last minute. In one example of network stupidity, ABC a few years ago moved up a serial drama one hour and stuck 20/20 in its time slot. People tuned in for the serial just as the episode was ending (ABC had to rebroadcast the episode in the regular time slot the following week).

DVR's are representing an ever-increasing portion of TV viewing but the networks try to pretend it doesn't happen. Tivo is only a temporary solution. In a few years people will be downloading programming on demand. DVRs will be obsolete but so will networks and terrestrial television and even cable channels as we know them. Everybody will be their own programmer and this problem will be solved.

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

After reading all the knee jerk posts here, I have one of my own: we don't have this problem out west ;D

How FAR west?

Here in Denver, we get football runovers that pre-empts any chance of KCNC 4 and KDVR 31 from airing a newscast of just about ANY length (Unless it's a 2:15 MT game that ends BEFORE 5:15 MT, which is RARE to say the least). The 2:05 MT games have a much better chance of ending either on time or early, but even that is pretty much rare in this era where games can be repeatedly delayed by coaches challenges and other booth-initiated Instant Replay delays.

On the College Football front, KCNC 4 and KMGH 7 don't even bother with airing a newscast if a football runover will lead right into a primetime game in relatively short order as it doesn't do any good.

Just my $.02 worth

Cheers

 

[Markxxx]

Does Nielsen monitor DVRs? If not there's not point catering to them and even if Nielsen does I would assume most people fast forward thru the ads. So the advertisers won't pay for those viewers.

 

[TroyG]

You know what I'm thinking? Put the Pre-Game on at 11:00a E/10:00a C& 8:00aP; then have the first game on at 12N e/11a C, followed by the 2nd game@ 3:15Pe/2:15Pc. whatever's left of the latter's window would be used for the Post-Game Highlight show. That would gangway for the Sunday primetime line-up to begin-ON TIME. If both FOX or CBS interrupts the game for the movie "Heidi", then we're ALL die-hard football fans get pissed.

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

I think the keywords to this whole thread (Except for almost half of the analogies that Julius referred to in his post above, which are OFF TOPIC for this thread) are T I M E A P P R O X I M A T E.

That means if you have to be at home to MANUALLY hit the record button on the DVR in order to get the whole show, then SO BE IT. Once the world of ON DEMAND entertainment currently being offered by cable and satellite operators hits its peak (Which it isn't even close to doing yet), the networks will have NO CHOICE but to stop supporting the cheapskate cigar (Or cigarette) smoking Joe Sixpack loser who's sitting in his sleazy apartment watching a TV which might have a remote control and have rabbit ears for reception (Who may also be the "caretaker" of the sleazy apartment complex that gets visits from the cops at all hours of the day and night for just about anything and everything imaginable and unimaginable) and start supporting those of us who have cable or satellite (With or without an actual HDTV set) and access to a broadband connection to the Internet and other forms of entertainment.

I mean, look how viral videos and video podcasting is affecting network TV viewership.

Sure there are a lot of other factors that come into play, but NONE of those have anything whatsoever to do with runovers of live sporting events. Besides, a runover is a risk a network takes when they broadcast a live event [/b]OF ANY KIND[/b] (Be it sports, breaking news, or whatever). There's NO getting around it.

Does it mean that CBS is lying about its scheduling of programs on Sunday Night? No. But it DOES mean that they don't do a very good job of factoring in live sports runovers when planning their schedule though.

Again...Just my $.02 worth

Cheers

 

[genius]

Hi everyone:

After reading all the knee jerk posts here, I have one of my own: we don't have this problem out west ;D

How FAR west?

Here in Denver, we get football runovers that pre-empts any chance of KCNC 4 and KDVR 31 from airing a newscast of just about ANY length (Unless it's a 2:15 MT game that ends BEFORE 5:15 MT, which is RARE to say the least). The 2:05 MT games have a much better chance of ending either on time or early, but even that is pretty much rare in this era where games can be repeatedly delayed by coaches challenges and other booth-initiated Instant Replay delays.

I live down the road in Albuquerque, and your right NFL do overrun into local newscasts(getting our usual 5:30 cast on the air during football season on Sunday evenings is a rarity as well) but my point was it rarely does it spill into network programming.

 

[pbf1]

We have a winner!

CBS has a good thing going with the over-runs or they wouldn't still be doing it. A football overrun almost invariably leads to higher ratings for "60 Minutes" and the programs that air afterwards.

And there you have it.