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Want us to watch your show? Start them on time!

Networks under attack from break-out shows should try a little thing called punctuality.

Late starting times are now getting out of hand….

We’ve put up with delays of five, six, seven minutes but now it’s getting beyond a joke.

Last night The Amazing Race on Seven started at 10:50pm after being advertised at 10:30pm. Why?

Titanic was due to start at 8:30pm according to all the ads, Seven’s online Guide and print guides, but it began at around 8:45pm. Australia’s Got Talent was also late because Home and Away ran overtime. Again.

And the daily culprit was Today Tonight, which is incapable of finishing on time despite Seven News miraculously starting on the dot of 6pm day in, day out. It does this in order to sync with regional broadcasters.

None of last night’s programmes after 7pm were live -all were pre-recorded, edited and delivered to the network. So why didn’t Seven update its online EPG?

Maybe everybody on Fango should start complaining about this topic.

However, Seven is hardly alone in this habit.

Last week I waited for a 7:30pm episode of Bondi Vet. It started at 7:42pm after The Biggest Loser. I took note not to bother with Bondi Vet again after that. Who lets a 30 minute show run for 42 and thinks this is acceptable?

Nine also runs shows overtime with repetition. The Block and Celebrity Apprentice were appalling in this last year.

ABC and SBS seem to be much closer to the mark than commercials as far as I can see.

Networks are doubly shooting themselves in the foot over this.

If your show is late, we’ll just record it and watch it in our own time. That means we won’t have to watch it Live, we won’t see your sponsor ads, and you won’t get the overnight ratings.

At least viewers with Foxtel’s EPG can see accurate times (including for FTA), which I presume must also be available elsewhere. Maybe readers can fill me in.

So while networks are struggling to compete with Nine’s breakout show The Voice maybe they should create a point of difference by actually starting theirs on time?

It’s revolutionary I realise, but that’s my 2c worth.

81 Responses

  1. As far as I know there is no actual regulating body the networks have to answer to any more, it’s all ‘self regulating’ which obviously means SFA in any business. And then there’s nights like a few Saturdays ago when TEN wiped their whole schedule, without notice, to run an old movie for the 1000th time. They really don’t give a stuff about their audience, it’s just ratings and beating up the other networks.

    9 might have been ‘the one’ once upon a time, but nowadays viewers hate the lot of them.

    Thank heavens for the ABC and SBS who you can rely on to stick to their schedule and (more or less) on time.

  2. Its not confined to prime time
    I have often set the PVR to record Skippy (anytime between 1.30am to 4.30am on Ch 9 Adelaide) and there have been many occasions where I either miss the first or last 5 – 10 minutes of the show, even after allwoing for over runs in time etc
    My 2 and 5 year olds love watching Skippy

  3. @ aussie and whoever else has trouble with recording shows on 10 on the weekend.
    I have found that on friday nights after 6pm channel 10 on my epg show correct times all the way to monday and even sometimes tuesday. I record king of queens and becker and a few other things and they always start 4 or 5 mins past the hour. This is just a suggestion on how i tend to do it and hope it helps you out.

  4. Thank you for this article. I know I sound like a broken record writing about this issue every week, but i’ve had enough.

    I only really watch Aussie shows on tv now, because they are rarely available anywhere else. If networks fasttrack i generally do the right thing and watch them on the networks. Not anymore.

    I’ve complained to the networks before. Seven’s response was they’re allowed to show so many ads an hour and they do. Which means they have more program content than what will fit within an hour and within their advertising space.
    Seven spokesperson also said they try to make sure shows start within 10 minutes late. That itself was a pathetic answer because they should try to start shows on time. To me it sounds like they aim to get 10 minutes late now. And if that’s the case then they failed cos Titanic started at 8.45.

    It’s a deliberate tactic so networks can prevent viewers switching channels. We all know this.
    And as others have mentioned, it’s quite amazing how Seven is able to finish TT and H&A on time when they have footy or the Australian Open was on.

    And there’s no where to complain to. I complained to the network, got a response that was just full of shit. And now what? This issue isn’t part of the code. It amounts to false and misleading advertising because they play ads all week and on the day stating one time, but then it starts 15 minutes late despite the EPG updated so they know the right time. So who do we complain to?

    David you’re the boss man, can you start a campaign? Get a petition. I dunno. Seriously it’s got to stop.

  5. I remember failing to start a show on time being a big issue in the UK in the early nineties. mainly due to sporting events running over the allotted time. The governing body for Television broadcasting OFCOM, implemented a fine system. Networks were allowed to overun a certain number of times a year, I think it was 5. Once they went over 5 late starts the tv channels were fined for each late event. Maybe we need something similar to be implemented here. The commercial stations would be broke within a month! This is one of the reasons I rarely watch FTA now. Fed up of waiting for a show, or missing the end of something I have recorded. I even make sure with FTA I allow for overruns by 30 minutes and sometime even this is not enough.

  6. Couldn’t agree more.
    There is no reason at all they should be allowing 30 minute pre-recorded programs to go any longer than they should be.
    The only time you should see the schedule get that far out of place is after a live telecast that ran over. Not a bunch of non-live programming.

  7. Amen!!!! Preaching to the choir here but it’s something that networks need to know us annoying viewers big time. On Monday, seven’s late night sitcoms were scheduled to start late on my epg but they started even later and ran extra episodes – so confusing!!

  8. They do it on purpose so as to cut into other programs and prevent us from changing the channel. The method is underhanded and undermines loyalty.

    The problem is competition between the networks. However, when competition is affecting the quality of their service, it will only cause a loss of viewers who will seek more reliable avenues to view content. It would pay for the networks to show a credible front, rather than to try outdo each other desperately.

  9. My favourite thing to point out is the ability channel Seven has to have Home and Away start at precisely 7pm when the footy is to follow! But the four nights before it will have started at 7:04pm.

  10. I agree with you David 100% – it’s a disgrace. But it gets worse, Channel 10 do not update their EPG at all on Saturdays or Sundays…it states all programmes are starting on the hour or half hour…yeah right, that would be nice!
    And as usual TEN pass the buck…apparently they outsource the EPG data to an external company who are responsible for updating!
    About time we started a Facebook campaign

  11. I knew that The Amazing Race was going to start later than the advertised time so I didn’t bother with it as I had to go to work the next day. I’ll watch it on Plus7 later today.

    It’s no wonder the ratings for ABC and SBS are slowly creeping up. People are getting tired of shows ending much lately in order to keep you from changing channels.

  12. How do we see accurate times on Foxtels EPG? I had a few shows on remote record from 7, 9 and 10 but they always cut off the last half of the show so i got rid of them.

  13. This is something I have never understood. In order to be more competitive, they lie and cheat and do sneaky tricks. Meanwhile the audiences, who have no Network loyalty (anybody who believes they do is seriously fooling themselves) are confused and frustrated, go to alternative and more reliable sources for their entertainment.

    So their tricks to keep audiences are actually driving them away.

    All this seems to have happened in only the last few years. Just imagine what the TV landscape will be like in ten years time.

  14. Yea it happens all the time with today tonight. starts at 6:30pm and ends at 7:04pm every night. But I’ve learnt on Fridays when AFL is on it finishes at 7pm. and Home and Away always at 7:30pm. At least now with epg’s the schedule shows its correct time.

  15. I agree it’s very annoying, but I actually think it works for the networks in the way they want it to.

    Until the networks see otherwise, it will continue to just get worse.

    It would make much more sense lobbying the ACMA to force networks to start shows at exactly the top and bottom of the hour, or at atvertised times.

    It’s quite amazing in the US this kind of thing is almost completely non existant. The regulators there require networks start shows on the hour to the second. It’s amazing when you flick around at 8.59 and 55 seconds you will see hundreds of chnanels running credits, then Boom at 9pm on the dot the next show begins. All networks are in sync almost exactly to the second.

    Like the Bullet train in Japan! It’s amazing how they do it. Shows are edited and come in at exactly the right time. And if they do not, extra commercisl are added oir the show edited. But shows never run or start late in the US. If they do, they are advertsied as such. For example NBC used to advertise that ET started at 10,02pm, rather than 10pm.

  16. This is so annoying. Channel 7 is especially Bad! I now have to record the show after to see the end of a show!
    Good to see Channel Ten last night starting the Good Wife on time

  17. I absolutely agree with you David – Ten was a source of this malfeasance originally but now they all do it. It’s why I rarely watch a show on its first-run and see it later on my own time, if the networks won’t respect their own published guides.

  18. +1

    As you point out, all these shows are pre-recorded and on digital media, so the networks know their exact duration days or weeks in advance.

    Why do they get it wrong? There have been any number of network whistle-blowers post on places like Whirlpool in the past, asserting that it’s all deliberate. The claims are it’s usually done to either overlap another network’s top rating shows, or to force exposure to new or low-rating shows on their own network.

  19. I concur! This is arguably one of the biggest issues affecting quality of life for those that watch TV! I record shows and allow 120 mind for a 60min show sometimes, if there are no clashes with later shows on a different channel! Programming the PVR does require frequent amendments too!
    I am just hoping I got all of Offspring, Mentalist, and TAR! I refused to watch them live & wait for them to start late. That was I can catch up on the previous how’s in my own time!

  20. I consistently lose the end of programs I’ve recorded on my PVR due to unscheduled overruns, and I have a 15-minute buffer! I refuse to change the settings out of principle. The networks need to smarten up.

  21. Well we all know the reason when Seven has shows running over and the next starting later as the night progresses. it’s to keep viewers from switching but IMO it can backfire with viewers just recording the shows they want and watching other channels/shows live. That’s what I do.

    Most shows I don’t want to miss I set the PVR and watch them later, skipping the ads.

    At least on PayTV if shows aren’t going to start exactly on time the EPG is changed, right down to just hours or even minutes before the broadcast. If shows aren’t going to start on time why can’t FTA keep there relativity few channels up to date?

    Again ABC and SBS are the most reliable, with TEN next then a toss up of 7 & 9 for the main channels for being the worst.

  22. Sounds like they sold more ad space that what they legally have alotted

    Who checks on this nowadays

    I am sure all the stations are screening way more ads than in the past

  23. I’m glad you raised this David. It’s one of the main reasons I find it harder to take Commercial TV seriously.

    I agree that rather than sit and wait for a late-starting show, I just set it to record and watch it later. (And add an extra 20 minutes to the recording time, to allow for the late start/finish.) And yes, because it’s recorded, I skip through the ads. Surely they don’t want me to do that!

  24. Why aren’t the regulators taking action. As I’ve said numerous times here I don’t get why it’s allowed to happen. Unless it’s a genuine over run a show doesn’t usually start later than 4 minutes past the hour here in the UK (though the BBC have a history of over running on Christmas Day), while in the US (the most competitive TV market surely) I believe they have to pretty much start on the dot. From what I’ve seen in schedules if a show will begin at 9:02 it is billed as beginning at 9:02.

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