This is a strange issue that I have been noticing off and on for the better part of two years now on TLC. It usually happens on a show airing during the 2nd half of the hour (x:30-x:00) and when it happens, is seems to always be the next to the last commercial break in that half hour (the one at about the 14 minute mark).
What happens is that the last commercial in the break will be a DirecTV PPV commercial of some sort (Cinema, fight preview, etc.) that is 30 seconds long. Once that commercial ends, you will rejoin whatever show is on mid-sentence pretty much exactly 30 seconds from when it should have already come back from break. (I've loaded up an affected show on YouTube to see exactly how much was missing on DirecTV.) In short, there seems to be no alloted time left for the PPV commercial at the end of the break, yet they slip it in anyway. If it was gone, the show would rejoin right on time without be cut off. It doesn't happen with every show because sometimes there will be a regular national commercial or TLC commercial right before the rejoin and the show doesn't get cut off then. It's only where there is a DirecTV-inserted PPV commercial. As specific recent examples, this has happened during the 5/24 9:30pm airing of "On the Fly," the 5/28 9:30pm airing of "Cake Boss," and the 5/31 9:30pm airing of "On the Fly." If anyone still has any of those on their DVR, I would appreciate it if you could take a look to verify. It could be happening more often than that, as well. I just don't watch/record TLC every night of the week.
I did call DirecTV and the CSR noted my account and said someone from engineering may eventually see it to take a look. I know better than to hold my breathe on that one though. They also gave me a phone number to some department at Discovery but I don't think this is really a network issue as when I check out the same show on YouTube (probably recorded from a different provider), nothing is cut off.
I guess my main question is has anyone else ever noticed this and what would be the best way to get it escalated to the correct people? It's only 30 seconds but I like to think that I pay to watch the programming, not the PPV commercials that cut the programming off.
Thanks,
Dan
What happens is that the last commercial in the break will be a DirecTV PPV commercial of some sort (Cinema, fight preview, etc.) that is 30 seconds long. Once that commercial ends, you will rejoin whatever show is on mid-sentence pretty much exactly 30 seconds from when it should have already come back from break. (I've loaded up an affected show on YouTube to see exactly how much was missing on DirecTV.) In short, there seems to be no alloted time left for the PPV commercial at the end of the break, yet they slip it in anyway. If it was gone, the show would rejoin right on time without be cut off. It doesn't happen with every show because sometimes there will be a regular national commercial or TLC commercial right before the rejoin and the show doesn't get cut off then. It's only where there is a DirecTV-inserted PPV commercial. As specific recent examples, this has happened during the 5/24 9:30pm airing of "On the Fly," the 5/28 9:30pm airing of "Cake Boss," and the 5/31 9:30pm airing of "On the Fly." If anyone still has any of those on their DVR, I would appreciate it if you could take a look to verify. It could be happening more often than that, as well. I just don't watch/record TLC every night of the week.
I did call DirecTV and the CSR noted my account and said someone from engineering may eventually see it to take a look. I know better than to hold my breathe on that one though. They also gave me a phone number to some department at Discovery but I don't think this is really a network issue as when I check out the same show on YouTube (probably recorded from a different provider), nothing is cut off.
I guess my main question is has anyone else ever noticed this and what would be the best way to get it escalated to the correct people? It's only 30 seconds but I like to think that I pay to watch the programming, not the PPV commercials that cut the programming off.
Thanks,
Dan