# TV Commercials - Broadcasters are Getting Smarter

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-commercials-broadcasters-are-getting-smarter/533840>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 26, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-commercials-broadcasters-are-getting-smarter/533840 "2010-03-26T03:27:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-commercials-broadcasters-are-getting-smarter/533840/1 "2010-03-26T03:27:43Z")

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The commercial schedulers were in perfect harmony tonight. No matter which channel I went to they were there too. What happened to the days when these a-holes were a couple minutes out of sync? Life with a remote was good before they got smart.

I primarily watch TLC, Discovery, Animal Planet, and Discovery Health. It’s no surprise that their commercials are in sync. Discovery Communications owns all those channels (and 4 more). 😃 So yeah, they probably schedule commercials together.

Tonight I was watching Pawn Stars on History. I tried cnn, fox news, and even hgtv. These guys hit a home run tonight. I couldn’t get a glimpse of another program during Pawn Stars commercial break. 🙂

You folks noticing it to? Seems like channel surfing is almost a dead sport.

I’m hoping tonight was a fluke.

That does bring up a good question. Why aren’t commercial breaks aired at the same time on all channels? Channel Surfing would have never gotten started in the 1980’s.

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**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-commercials-broadcasters-are-getting-smarter/533840/2 "2010-03-26T03:30:46Z")

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I find that I have the best luck if I switch between a half-hour show and an hour-long show. Those tend to have their commercial breaks in different places.

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**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-commercials-broadcasters-are-getting-smarter/533840/3 "2010-03-26T03:36:18Z")

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Life with a remote is still good if you use your mute button. I am so liberal with the mute button the word “mute” has faded off the button. Just mute that annoying shit and send some text messages to your friends/family to make use of the time.

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-commercials-broadcasters-are-getting-smarter/533840/4 "2010-03-26T03:36:49Z")

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I usually get a minute of cnn or fox news during my main channel’s commercials.

I always figured they wanted viewers to see them during other channels commercials. 😉 If the news item is interesting, then I may not go back to the other channel.

Tonight may have just been a fluke.