That was almost the same sentence I deleted from my post. At this Chinese restaurant it’s about a 40 minute loop of cooking and fisherman bringing in their catch. Fortunately there is just one TV at the back so it isn’t too distracting.
LOL I had hoped that my quip about being a sixtysomething myself was a hint that I wasn’t entirely serious! 
That said, it’s undeniable that familiarity with tech like smartphones and their peripherals to SOME extent varies generationally.
Thank you all - so far, it’s not just me.
I’d forgotten about the doctor / dentist waiting room scenario, which I’d say is worse than the restaurant situation. I’m not an impulsive person, but I do worry that one day I will be annoyed by a TV enough that I’ll take a hammer to it. Then maybe I’ll throw some bills at the startled proprietor, like Sonny Corleone did with the FBI photographer.
I have never (and would never) requested that an establishment blare anything, only that I’m grateful for the distraction when they choose to do so. I suspect that if it were so unpopular, there wouldn’t be so much background noise to make me uncomfortable.
So, apart from “nothing”, what would you propose should be on instead of sports? Sports is good passive entertainment. News could be good, but news is so polarized, the wrong station could alienate some customers. TV shows and movies wouldn’t work - you can’t just drop in on a show or a movie, and it might spoil a show or a movie someone was planning on watching later.
Also venues need to have specific licenses to show stuff. I’m not even sure a venue could legally show a movie even if it was on TNT or TBS.
My dentist office has home improvement shows in the lobby, and some special “happy animal stories” in the exam rooms. Oh, actually the last time I was there it was just all Today Show Cooking Segments.
I also think they subscribe to a service. I don’t think you can legally show whatever you want without having the right licenses. I could be wrong tho (and I’m sure many places might just do it anyway).
That’s a good point about the licenses–I hadn’t thought of that. You have to understand, I don’t object to showing sports, just that it always seems to be sports. Why not a nature show, or a cooking show, or something like that? One time I was at a Pho place and they showed segments with people preparing various Asian dishes. I agree that news would be a bad idea.
Mostly, though, my objection is to TV screens in places I don’t think they should be, like restaurants that are “nicer” rather than casual or family-oriented. The kind of place you might reasonably expect someone to go to on a date. I’m sure there are a lot of women (and some men, too!) who are annoyed by having to compete with sportsball on TV when they’re trying to have a conversation with their dining partner.
It’s kind of an offshoot of my GenX irritation with the fact that every kid, from toddler on up, seems to be glued to a phone or iPad in restaurants. Somehow kids from my generation managed to make do with crayons or maybe a comic book–why does everybody from cradle to grave nowadays need to be constantly stimulated by TV/internet?
I hate it.
One doctor of mine always has the television blaring game shows, and not the good ones. Like Deal or No Deal or Family Feud. Another always has it on HGTV.
Don’t force me to watch something I didn’t choose. And I can’t block it out. My brain won’t let me concentrate when that shit’s going on. I hate TV noise so much there’s only a TV in the basement den and nowhere else in the house.
I also hate TVs and chatter in restaurants. Just really sensitive to noise, I guess. I usually go to restaurants during off-hours to avoid the crowds.
Wait, why have we ruled out “nothing”?
Because I was responding to a poster who said:
" It doesn’t bother me in most lower-level restaurants. Where it does bother me:
- I hate the fact that it always seems to be sports. I get it, in a sports bar or pizza place or somewhere like that, people want to watch the game. And I get it if there’s some important game on. But why does it always have to be sports, or worse, talking heads yammering on about sports?"
So, they weren’t saying that they minded the tv, they minded the sports. I was just curious what they’d prefer to see.
That would absolutely drive me nuts. I would ask them to turn it off, and if they didn’t, i would find a new dentist.
The hospital where my doctor’s office is subscribes to some medical thing that shows stuff about ailments similar to what’s treated in that office. I try to sit faced the other direction.
I despise TVs in airports.
I don’t really mind them in bars and cheaper restaurants, especially if the volume is off (or more enough that i can’t hear it.)
So long as the volume is low, i wouldn’t hate that.
Fwiw, I’ve lot some thought into “what’s good for passive viewing, where you might not make out the words, and various people shot up and leave at different times?”
IMHO, the answers are sports, cooking shows, and nature videos that don’t show animals bring killed/eaten. Pretty much any drama or humor is out. News without subtitles is out. Very short clips of celebrities can work with subtitles, too. (Think YouTube shorts.) But the first three are less likely to be polarizing, and don’t need to jump to new content regularly.
I guess it’s good to know that someone likes those things.
Well I guess I’ll be the one who says I really don’t care. It doesn’t bother me, nor do I watch them. They’re just there. 
Of course I have never been in a place that had it set to Fox News. I would probably have a different view if that was the case. It’s always just sports or NY1.
I’m surprised at how often I find myself in places that do. It doesn’t just make me avoid the establishment in the future but also makes me leery of their regular clientele.
TVs are cheaper than wallpaper these days, so it’s something I’m getting used to. Almost all of them in the public places I frequent have the volume turned down and the captions on. For some reason, my local Wingstop and its Hispanic staff have there’s tuned to sumo wrestling.
One place I frequent has annoyed me with the TV and when I complained the owner said it was more for the employees. They get bored, he said. I’m sympathetic to that, but as a paying customer I want the damn thing turned down or off. So I give him the stink eye if he tries to turn it on and he seems to indulge me, if a little reluctantly.
I’ve tried to make it clear to him that I will come more often and stay longer spending more money if the TV is muted or off. I realize the place isn’t a library, I’ve said to him. But the ambience with the TV on is terrible, I think.
Today I visited a restaurant I used to frequent but hadn’t been to in maybe 6 months. Nice one-off Italian place, white tablecloths, extensive menu, sorta heavy 1970s decor. Not a spaghetti & pizza place, but also not tres snootay either.
They have always had a horseshoe bar at one side with a couple 24 or 28" TVs overhead for the bar patrons to watch. Never with sound on. And not really really visible from the dining area which had only paintings and bric a brac on the brick walls.
Anyhow, they sorta redecorated since I was last there. The paintings and bric a brac and what mustv’e been fake brick wall paneling are all gone. The walls are now smooth drywall painted a very pale yellow. And are bare except for a bunch of ~48" TVs spaced every few feet. Maybe 10 total around the dining area. All of which are playing pretty landscape videos with each different. No sound.
And thus we see the likely future of mid-market restaurant decor.
I would like that.