Foxtel adds recording buffer to beat TV scheduling tactics
Pay TV subscriber Foxtel has reprogrammed its IQ2 digital recorder because viewers have been missing the end of shows when free-to-air TV channels overrun their schedules, the company said today.
Although subscribers could previously set all recordings to overrun by the same amount, they were not previously able to make adjustments on a show by show basis. But in the new software this will be possible, to allow for sporting events or “for free to air broadcast channels that do not start and finish their shows in keeping with the published listing times,” said Foxtel.
The issue of networks deliberately running shows late because of the vicious ratings battle, has long rankled with viewers. When a network is aware that a competitor has a show that is likely to attract a big audience, they deliberately over-run the preceding show on their own channel in the hope that viewers will stick with them until the end, then not bother to channel hop if the competing programme has already begun.
But because broadcasters know this, they in turn start their own shows late, leading to viewers sometimes waiting up to 20 minutes for the advertised show to begin. It was a topic touched on in the recent spoof Freeview ad:
As a result, Foxtel said it was now offering viewers a 20 minute rather than 10 minute buffer at the end of recordings.
The Foxtel announcement also said that its IQ and IQ2 – its set top recording units – have now been installed in a total of 540,000 homes, which is about 38% of the company’s subscriber base.
The news coincides with the news that the Seven Network – which markets free-to-air’s equivalent to the IQ, TiVo, has sold a stake in the service to kiwi broadcaster TVNZ. TiVo retails for $699, and is expected to have sold about 40,000 units by this July.
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FTA shows not starting and finishing on time is a big reason I dont watch much of it nowdays. I also find (especialy on channel 9) the EPG to be totally useless in telling me what is on, and what is comming up, 9 so I just gave up.
At lease with Foxtel the shows start and finish when they should ,and the EPG seems to be up to date all the time (and actually informative).
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Having used this service very recently – its brilliantly simple and the right way to go.
Anyone trying to facilitate consumer choice needs to be applauded. Appointment viewing is a dated concept and one which the FTAs have yet to truly come to terms with.
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