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So what do you do when the commercials do their best to blast you off the couch?

  • Surrender and sit up and pay attention as the creators intended.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Retaliate. (Mute, channel surf, beer or bathroom break, grade papers, homework...)

    Votes: 15 48.4%
  • No longer watch TV.

    Votes: 4 12.9%
  • Use modern tech to bypass commercials altogether.

    Votes: 12 38.7%

Loud Commercials Poll

1K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  eMacMan 
#1 ·
Given the overall impact of the recent CRTC ruling limiting volume on commercials; The obvious conclusion is the ruling contained a secret clause granting exemptions for anyone that greases the correct palm.

So what do you do when the commercials do their best to blast you off the couch?
 
#3 ·
Hmmm I just love the CRTC.. Such a great unbiased organization that always has the consumers best interest at heart! :D
 
#6 ·
Thank god for the PVR 30 second skip functionality.
^^ this.

Also if we don't have it on DVR, then we're streaming content from a MBP or apple tv. Very very rarely do we watch live TV.
 
#7 ·
I clicked "no longer watch TV" although this is not strictly true anymore. I gave up on TV in 1987, and went until very recently with no TV at all. But we bought a TV to use as a monitor for a game console (and for watching movies) a couple of years ago, and discovered that we do get two channels OTA (CBC and CTV).

The only thing I ever watch on broadcast TV is hockey, and I do find the ads extremely annoying (this is also something I find intolerable about radio, apart from CBC).

I use the mute button to deal with Ads on those rare occasions I watch TV. Speaking of which, we'll know a TV manufacturer is actually customer-driven when they provide remote controls on which the mute button is the biggest and most conveniently located button on the device. The fact that most TV remotes have tiny little mute buttons positioned in some way that makes it easier to activate your TVs Sanskrit Closed Captioning option than to mute some bloody commercial is unequivocal proof that the TV exists primarily as a vehicle to deliver advertising to consumers.
 
#18 ·
I clicked "no longer watch TV" although this is not strictly true anymore. I gave up on TV in 1987, and went until very recently with no TV at all. But we bought a TV to use as a monitor for a game console (and for watching movies) a couple of years ago, and discovered that we do get two channels OTA (CBC and CTV).

The only thing I ever watch on broadcast TV is hockey, and I do find the ads extremely annoying (this is also something I find intolerable about radio, apart from CBC).

I use the mute button to deal with Ads on those rare occasions I watch TV. Speaking of which, we'll know a TV manufacturer is actually customer-driven when they provide remote controls on which the mute button is the biggest and most conveniently located button on the device. The fact that most TV remotes have tiny little mute buttons positioned in some way that makes it easier to activate your TVs Sanskrit Closed Captioning option than to mute some bloody commercial is unequivocal proof that the TV exists primarily as a vehicle to deliver advertising to consumers.
Hyperbole much?

No proof at all and no you are putting the cart before the horse. Commercials in non subscription based television pay for content creation and it's associated production costs etc. Subscription based broadcasting contains no commercials at all so your logic is severely flawed.

The mute button is small because it is rarely used by the majority of watchers. Geesh...
 
#12 ·
Hmmmm.... depends, if I'm watching something I've recorded earlier to PVR, I fast forward through the commercial. If it's live, I turn down the volume.

I do find some commercials entertaining or amusing. Like those Geico ads with the gecko, or the Netflix one with the talking hamsters. :lmao:
 
#14 ·
Still no one admitting to just suffering through them. Maybe I should have worded the first option: "Suffer silently in hopes of earning brownie points in the next life or the next world."

Regardless the poll confirms my original thought: Whatever the ad agencies may hope to accomplish with those speaker busting ads, their method leads to a colossal failure.

Obviously almost no-one tolerates or listens to these ads.
 
#15 ·
Some programs (Mad Men) I tape and then just whizz through the ads, but that's mostly because it's on at an insane hour.

Rest of the time I'll usually change the channel. If it's something I want to watch, I'll tape it for later and then skip through, but there aren't many programs I watch that I care enough about to bother.
 
#16 ·
A bump to give any one who missed out one more chance.
 
#17 ·
The declining S/N ratio, as reflected in the information and/or entertainment value of the shows divided by the amount of noxious advertising I had to endure, is what drove me away from TV back in the '80s. From what I have seen, the content hasn't gotten any better, and the advertising is even more intrusive and abundant than ever, so the value proposition of time spent watching TV has continued to erode.

This is not to say that there isn't good stuff to watch, but why does anyone put up with advertising? Download it and watch it without ads, when and where you choose.

As far as I can tell, the only reason people watch broadcast/cable TV is that "that's the way we've always done it." It's no wonder cable companies are in a panic about digital media.

I predict this is the next industry Apple will disrupt. With its ties to the content industry, and demonstrated capacity to provide technologies that people enjoy using to solve problems they didn't know they had (not to mention their absolutely gargantuan mountain of cash), I can easily picture Apple providing a "seamless" solution to the hodgepodge of media consumed in the living room. Microsoft has been trying to do this with the media centre and Xbox for decades, and Apple has been exploring it with things like FrontRow and AppleTV, but I expect to see a concerted effort to provide a well-integrated media consumption system for the digital age from Apple within the next few years.
 
#20 ·
Interesting that no one willingly just tolerates the loudest commercials.

Nearly 10% have stopped watching TV altogether.

Only thing that was unexpected was the 50-50 split between those that did other things and those that took advantage of tech to bypass the commercials altogether. I suspect a lot more than 50% have the ability to record and watch later, although there are still a few of us who still use TVs purchased back in the 80s or 90s.

My suspicion that window shattering volume levels on some commercials is self defeating, has been dramatically confirmed.
 
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