I read the other ad thread and wanted to make a slightly different point, these are not particularly annoying (any advertising is) but shows an incredible lack of foresight.
We’ve got ads for the Canadian Cable Broadcasters Assoc. (or something like that) which drive me crazy that people are paid to create commercials which are now being played.
Scene: talk show set, nervous sweaty satellite-tv salesman as guest, riled audience, host giving him a hard time
gist of script: Salesguy - who would want more than one TV? - one fridge, one washer, one TV
Host - cable TV outlets are cheap and easy to add, you don’t need a separate decoder for each TV, etc.
The commercial is survivable, and actually kinda funny to watch this guy sqirm.
My problem is this; the main benefits that they are extolling are the low cost of adding extra cable outlets, and that you don’t need a set-top box for each TV. These idiots are pushing this idea in a couple of different ads. Digital Cable is just starting to roll out here in limited markets, and I would guess be available in most markets in a couple of years.
DIGITAL CABLE REQUIRES A SET-TOP BOX FOR EACH TV! YOU CAN’T WATCH ONE THING AND RECORD ANOTHER ON YOUR VCR! IF YOU WANT TO TAPE SOMETHING WHILE YOU ARE OUT, YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THE BOX ON TUNED TO THE PROPER CHANNEL! So much for taping your favourite 3 shows while on your 2-week vacation.
I don’t care how easy it is for them to come out and add another outlet (at $70 for the house call and and extra $5.99/month for a total of 3 outlets). The benefits they are pushing are going to disappear in less than a decade, which happens to many products, BUT THEY KNOW IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN!
ooooo, that’s it, I’ve got myself so worked up, I’m going to send off an e-mail to them…someone has to let them know how stupid they are…