Back in the day, around 2005 I want to say, I upgraded from basic cable to DirecTV and went from probably sixty channels to what was advertised as somewhere around the hundreds (maybe thousands I can’t remember). Now once this went down there was two things that caught my attention. One was the tons of useless channels that made up my BIG TV package. And the other was IFC, a channel I grew to really love and enjoy.
And what wasn’t there to enjoy? We had a movie channel that unlike the HBOs and Showtimes showed tons of cult classics and lesser known movies. It even had a Grindhouse show on weekends that showed some of my all time favorite films and thanks to that program I became a fan of even more movies I had not known about before. Sure, they had that Henry Rollins show on, but nobody is perfect right? Time goes on none the less and I start to watch less and less TV. I’m too busy with this and that, I’m spending free time watching movies for reviews ect. and when I finally do kick back to watch some IFC what do I find? COMMERCIALS!!??
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean the basic commercials for their own programs like every other movie channel has, I mean adds for Free Credit Reports, Soft drinks, and the whole nine yards of adds you get on any other regular channel right there on IFC in between and during episodes of Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared! And they seem to have gone on forever once they did start rolling. They even had commercials for vibrators! What? No new Girls Gone Wild commercials to insert?? Anyway, my point is this, when did this start and is this just the start of something to come later on when IFC or perhaps even HBO and the likes start busting out with commercials during and throughout the programming? You like to think at least some things on TV are immune to the everyday life of a regular channel, but I guess even in today economy that even channels you have to pay for need ways to make some extra cash on the side. Still, I found it disappointing.
While one could argue that such shows as Freaks and Geeks are meant to have commercials and that it shouldn’t mess with the flow of a show like that, I’ve heard rumors of IFC sneaking commercials inside their actual movies, a move that was unheard of for paid movie channels for as far back as I can remember. I could almost suck it up and accept adds if it came just for the former prime time programming and before and after the movies, but if this starts DURING the movies I think some type of line should be crossed and protesting and complaining would be acceptable. I hope it doesn’t come to that but I guess we’ll all just have to wait this one out and see.
I guess this is why the slogan of “Always, Uncut” is now “Always on, Slightly Off” huh?
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