PPV Commercials Cutting Into Programming

[danpeters]

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

 

[raoul5788]

I can't say that I have noticed it.

 

[charlie460]

I have noticed commercial insertion issues as well.

 

[Joe Diamond]

I am seriously looking at cutting the cord with Directv. The picture is superior. The channel mix is ok. I get the local feed just fine. Outages for weather are not excessive. It is the commercial interruptions that seem to be getting louder.....longer.......more stupid.......childishly repetitive.......artless........and more expensive when you consider you are paying for those blobs of crap. I have never ordered a PPV show. They all seem to end up coming around somewhere at a later date. The PPV commercials are part of a bigger issue to me...........but I see your point.

Joe

 

[raoul5788]

You are going to get commercials no matter where you look. There isn't much you can do about that.

 

[danpeters]

I am seriously looking at cutting the cord with Directv. The picture is superior. The channel mix is ok. I get the local feed just fine. Outages for weather are not excessive. It is the commercial interruptions that seem to be getting louder.....longer.......more stupid.......childishly repetitive.......artless........and more expensive when you consider you are paying for those blobs of crap. I have never ordered a PPV show. They all seem to end up coming around somewhere at a later date. The PPV commercials are part of a bigger issue to me...........but I see your point.

Joe

It's funny because the PPV commercials never bother me. I understand that DirecTV needs to advertise events to make money. It's the nature of the business. All providers run PPV commercials. Most of the stuff I watch is DVR'd anyway, so I never have a problem just skipping right past the commercials.. until said commercials start running over top of normal programming, causing me to rejoin a show 30 seconds after it has already come back on. That's when I start to get a little irritated with them.

 

[Joe Diamond]

You are going to get commercials no matter where you look. There isn't much you can do about that.

True,

I'm considering Netflicks or something like that. As I wander into old fart land the commercials just seem too stupid to endure further.

Joe

 

[Straybeat]

It's against FCC rules to cut into programming with a commercial. There used to be a form at the FCC site to fill out, noting the channel, time and program. Companies can get in big trouble for doing this. The FCC will usually spank them hard enough that they don't do it again.

EDIT: I tried to find the form and searched "Commercial interruption of programming", like any good government site it returned over 5900 irrelevant documents. It might have been buried in there, but who knows?

 

[danpeters]

I just got around to watching some of my TLC recordings from this week and it's definitely still happening. On the 6/7 - 9:30pm recording of "On the Fly" during the 2nd commercial break of the show, the last two commercials were a DirecTV Movers Connection commercial followed by a DirecTV Cinema commercial for a movie called "Act of Valor." The DirecTV Cinema commercial ran right over the program by what seemed to be the usual 30 seconds (the program should have started again right after the Movers Connection commercial as there was no time for another 30 second spot). I've already called and spoke to a CSR last weekend about it who "noted the account" so we know that went absolutely nowhere.

I may try to email Discovery next to see if there is anything they can do on their end as far as contacting DirecTV. I also looked on the FCC web site as Straybeat mentioned and there are various pre-made complaint reasons listed when you go to file a complaint but nothing about commercials cutting into shows. Mainly just loud commercials, offensive commercials, etc.. I may try to choose a complaint that is close in reason and submit it anyway. This is getting a bit ridiculous.

Dan