What the #*#* VH1?

Yesterday with Giant game winding down and late games not started yet I did
a little channel surfing and came across one of my stop and watchers - The Blues
Brothers. Bob has just presented them with bar bill which tells me there is not a lot left but still fair amount. Few minutes and VH1 breaks for 10 minutes of commercials. To make a long story short there were 2 more 10 minute commercial
breaks. 30 minutes of commercials in a hour.
Not even sure why I stayed with. Perhaps it was because I wanted to see if
VH1 really had that must disregard for the viewers.

 

It's getting to the points with long commercials that if I have any chores to do around the house. I do them during commercial breaks. Especially after touchdowns are scores. Why bother watching the kickoff when it's just going to be a touchback, followed by another five commercials?

 

There is practically nothing I watch on live tv. I dvr everything I watch. So I am 30 minutes behind on an NFL game. BFD.

I can't take the commercials. We stayed in a hotel recently and I had to turn off the tv. I've gotten spoiled by the dvr.

 

Try watching one of the ESPN cfb re-airs.

 

It's not a "VH-1" problem; it's a Viacom problem.

For quite some time Viacom (and other media giants, I'm sure) have been adding commercial time to their programs.

It might not be as obvious for a movie (who knows exactly how long the Blues Brothers is supposed to run, anyhow?), but it is grossly obvious with 30-minute and hour-long TV shows.

When the time listed for an episode of "Bonanza" on Viacom-owned TV Land is from Noon-1:10 p.m., you know something is rotten. And they've been doing it for quite some time.

 

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
I remember watching "Hoosiers" on CMT a few years back. They would come back from a break, show five minutes of movie, and then do another break. And not a quick one, either. Like, four or five minutes. Made me vow never to watch another movie on CMT again.
Good rule of thumb is to check the guide. If it's a movie you know should be two hours or an hour-45, and it's blocked out for three, steer clear. Saw "Point Break" on one channel last week, and it was listed as being on from 7:15 to 10 p.m. I love that movie, but no thank you.

 

After first 10 minute break the only reason I stayed was to see if they would
be so bold as to do it again.

I'm done with any station that pulls this stunt.

 

The one good thing is that you have time to do some serous channel surfing (or make yourself something to eat), return in 5 minutes and not miss anything.

I believe "Scarface" occupied a 4-hour slot the last time I came across it. I stayed through one break and bolted at the next.

 

A 4 hour Scarface would only be good if you had a coke habit.

 

The reason you are seeing 10-minute blocks of commercials that come in the second-half of each half-hour is because of something called Nielsen +3.

When Nielsen started measuring DVR usage, they reached an agreement with networks and advertisers that created what's called the +3 measurement -- day of air plus 2 days. That means the OP's Blues Brothers movie, had he watched it on DVR the next day, would have still rated for VH1. So VH1 knows that if they take all the commercials and push them together into a big pile, that means you'll stick around from the top of the hour past the 15-minute Nielsen click point. After that, you're free to leave. Or, as the networks think you'll do, stick around and fast forward through the 10 minutes of spots.

The big losers in this are the advertisers, but they are leaving TV in droves so they're getting even in the long run.