Enough with all the clutter (graphics) on my HD screen! - Page 91

So what did the cable company say when you called to cancel your subscription?

The Playboy Channel was doing it about 10 years ago (I saw it when there was a glitch on my friend's C-band dish that caused it to come in for free for a while.) Before seeing that I had joked that we'll know this logo thing has become a REAL problem when the Playboy Channel puts a rabbit head in the corner of the screen!

Heard about a product placement on the new "Hawaii 5-O": http://eater.com/archives/2012/01/19...waii-fiveo.php

They should have demanded that CBS take their logo off the screen, at least during that part. I've let Subway know that I'll be boycotting them because of this. (They did a similar thing earlier during the show "Chuck" with the NBC turkey on the screen, I informed Subway I was boycotting them for that too but they obviously didn't care.)

Really? And they STILL didn't demand the bug be removed? All the more reason to boycott them. However, had they sponsored something like "The Subway Sandwiches Bug-Free Showcase With Minimal Commercial Breaks" I would have eaten there on a regular basis.

Don't sponsors usually want the bugs off during commercial time, since it's time they're paying for? Disgusting that a show has enough "fans" to keep it on the air, yet they don't mind that literally every frame of their show has a logo on it. I complained quite vocally when this started, if enough other people had then we wouldn't still be enduring it more than *14 YEARS* later! I know "The Simpsons" people don't like bugs because I got a thank-you letter from them back in 1994 when I wrote to Fox complaining about it!

I have to ask again: What has anybody GAINED by doing this?? They don't get paid to put the bugs there, I doubt there's a single viewer out there who tunes in specifically because they want to see the bug, yet there ARE people who no longer watch because of it! So show me the positive effects that the networks have been enjoying- I don't want any of those "increased brand awareness" theories, I want actual FACTS.

I don't have any data, but I know they've lost at LEAST one viewer (me) because of the logos. Is there at least one other who tunes in specifically because they DO like the logos?

It seems like most people don't even notice the logos anymore, which is yet another reason I wonder why they continue to use them- those who do notice them either "don't mind" them or they hate them (hence why this thread exists, which was NOT started by me!) but I doubt there are many who like them and think they enhance the viewing experience. Many do think that their purpose is to stop people from recording shows and selling them, but I've never heard that as an official reason. The reasons I have heard are either:

1) With so many cable channels, people often forget which channel they are watching and having a logo always onscreen helps this (which of course is absurd but also is NO excuse for BROADCAST networks/stations to use them, as their signals go to people who don't HAVE cable. Why not set up a cable-only feed with the logos on them and leave those of us who get them over the air in peace?) This is also unnecessary as most new cable boxes and satellite systems display the names of all channels and sometimes even their logos. Analog TV signals had "Extended Data Service" signals the last few years which could display a station's call letters next to the channel number on a display, and also display the name of the show currently on. Of course now ALL digital TV tuners can display this information. I thought that digital TV ought to also have a "graphics" signal, similar to how subtitles on DVDs work, where they could display all the graphics and logos they wish but give the viewer the option to turn them on or off. (I think I mentioned this earlier and someone replied that nobody would ever turn them on by choice.)

2) The logos serve as "brand identity"- if a viewer enjoys a show and knows what network brought it to them, they'll be likely to watch other shows on the same network. (Again this is completely ridiculous- would you be "loyal" to an electronics company that etched its logo directly into its TV screens? I would think that would instead spread word about it being a brand to avoid!) This can also have exactly the opposite effect- Does NBC really want people to remember now that they were the ones who aired "The Playboy Club"?