Thread: The price of TV

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Originally Posted by jyardgirl

good job steve.

Thanks but I shouldn't have to threaten to get a discount. It baffles my mind how their marketing works. They could care less about loyalty & offer the world to new subscribers. I have a few friends who routinely switch back & forth between the 2 satellite providers & cable every year so they can take advantage of new subcsriber discounts.
It shouldn't be that way. There should be discounts & perks for loyal customers w/o having to ask for them.

A couple weeks ago I had forgotten to mail the check for our cable/internet/phone so went to their nearby office to pay and asked the girl (yeah, that young!!) behind the counter if there was any discounts I could take advantage of since I had reached Medicare/Social Security age. First of all, I had no idea what she said the first three times she mumbled at me through a very thick "minority" accent (no, I AM NOT racist/bigoted) and the last time all she said when I finally deciphered what it was "What do you want to drop". Their service is generally excellent but the price has sky rocketed. The phone is part of the bundle as is the very fast internet - but ~$190/month has gotten too pricy for me - and their counter help in my local office - really bad as this was not my first poor experience.

As far as watching the tube - I watch the History, Discovery, Military, Yankees and Speed plus, of course, the Weather Channel. The rest - crap. But they have you as these are spread through different 'tiers' which of course, mean more money. The family addict watches other channels which adds even more $$$. For every hour of a show, there is only 40-42 minutes of "content", the rest being commercials.

Here is last weeks NA$CAR commercial/content breakdown from Caws and Jaws:

"Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2011 Jeff Byrd 500

Total number of commercials: 105

Total number of companies or entities advertised: 73

Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 53

Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 26 (companies: Pizza Hut; Pizza Hut ‘Order Your Favorites at Pizza Hut Now!’; Pizza Hut ‘Fan’s Favorite Driver’ (Jeff Gordon); McDonald’s; Coca-Cola; Budweiser; Chevy; Ford.com; Toyota; Toyota ‘Sponsafy Your Ride!’; ToyotaRacing.com; American Ethanol; UPS TheNewLogistics.com/racing ; Home Depot; AT&T; AT&T.com/rethinkpossible; AT&T ‘Fastest Pit Crew of the Year Award – text to 234567’; Sprint; Sprint.com; Sprint.com/evo; Sprint.com/nownetwork; Sprint.com/speed; ‘Cars 2’ movie; GoDaddy.com; Viagra; FoxSports.com/PizzaHut; NASCAR on Fox; upcoming Bristol race on Fox; upcoming Martinsville race on Fox; upcoming Texas race on Fox)

Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 4 min. 50 sec.

Also, there are the following race statistics during the broadcast, sponsored by companies:

NASCAR on Fox ‘Weather’
GoDaddy.com ‘Starting Line Up’
NASCAR on Fox ‘Race Analysis’
Toyota ‘In-Car’
Coca-Cola ‘In-Car’
Ford ‘In-Car’
NASCAR on Fox ‘Slo Mo’
NASCAR on Fox ‘Involved in Wreck’
UPS ‘Logistics of the Race’
Ford F-150 ‘Ecoboost Track Facts’
American Ethanol ‘In-Car’
NASCAR on Fox ‘Crank it Up’
GoDaddy.com ‘Aerial Coverage’
NASCAR on Fox ‘Driver Steering Wheel’
AT&T ‘Race Break’
AT&T ‘Fastest Pit Crew of the Year Award’
AT&T ‘Fastest Pit Crew of the Year Standings’
AT&T ‘Fastest Pit Crew of the Year Report’
Budweiser ‘In-Car’
Chevy ‘In-Car’
Home Depot ‘In-Car’
GoDaddy.com ‘Race Summary’
NASCAR on Fox ‘Decibel Levels’
GoDaddy.com ‘In-Car’

Start time to record race/commercial periods: 1:00 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 4:12 PM

Total minutes: 192

Minutes of race broadcast: 139
Minutes of commercials: 53

Number of missed restarts: 0
Number of ‘mystery cautions’ (debris not shown): 1
Number of male enhancement ads: 1 Many NASCAR fans find these types of commercials very offensive
Number of Daytona 500 Champions to lead the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance: 1 Trevor Bayne"

Enjoy - another commercial will begin momentarily!!!!!!!