Sorry if this has been done - “red” and “nbc” are unsearchable, and it’s driving me nuts! Please tell me y’all are seeing that red rectangle in the lower left corner as shows come back from commercial, otherwise I suppose I’ll have to fashion myself a tinfoil hat and start a website about NBC colluding with the CIA to control my mind.
Not sure but it sounds like it could be a “cue” for local broadcasters to switch back to the national feed.
It seems strange because there is the Today Show logso and some red rectangle to the left of it and it stays there the whole time. Of course I am an idiot because I searched for Todays How rather than Today Show.
There are two cues that I know of for NBC:
One is deliberate, and NBC has answered questins about it, at least twice by my count:
On the today show, the anchors will say “But first, this is Today on NBC” that is a cue for the local networks to switch the commercials to a local set. (Or perhaps switch it to a National set, I forget which, but the phrase IS a cue to swap commercial sets.)
On 11 Alive (Atlanta NBC affilliate) from time to time, you will see an NBC branded screensaver image appear on screen. It Almost always starts with a Cascading NBC peacock logo, then goes on to a windshild wiper, or a flag pole, and back to the peacock cascade.
I am not really sure what the purpose of the saver is, but I am pretty sure, that the general Public is not supposed to see it.
You’re probably seeing the commercial cue as mentioned upthread.
You’re watching a 4x3 show on a nice big 16x9 screen aren’t ya? If so, you’re seeing parts of the screen that are normally hidden in the “overscan”.
In Canada, if you watch the CBC reruns of most shows you can see a white rectangle appear in the corner some 12 or so seconds before the commercial break begins.
It’s because they’re Communists! Fnord!
That’s the commercial cue, and it’s on part of the screen you’re not supposed to be watching.
Looks different on different shows, and it’s not always there. Just ignore it