Input Requested: Any Interest in an HD Pledge?

[SRW1000]

The recent abuses by local stations to rob us of our HD programming has gotten me thinking.  Is there any interest by our members to make a pledge to not support these stations when the unnecessarily interrupt HD shows to hype yet another weather non-event?

The stations believe that this increases their ratings.  But does it?  Or does it have the opposite effect?

If I recall, TV ratings do not take HD programs into account yet, but that will soon change.  Will it show different results?

Anyway, I though it might be informative to post an informal poll, to see if there would be any interest in creating an HD Viewer's Weather Pledge.  Please vote if you have a strong feeling.

A rough draft of the pledge:  

   I, a local Milwaukee HDTV viewer and forum member, vow to support the HD programming provided by my local stations.  In return for my viewership, I expect to be treated with respect.  Therefore, when stations decide to interrupt said programming for trivial, non-emergency weather or news stories, I pledge to seek out other entertainment options.  These may include, but are not limited to:  Shows on stations that respect their viewers, pre-recorded materials, other outlets (network websites, Hulu, etc.), cable stations, or waiting for the rerun.

The language is strong, but it makes the case for not standing for mistreatment.  And yes, I realize there is no constitutional right to HDTV, but we purchased the equipment with the expectation that stations would support the format.  Advertisers pay money to showcase their products in the best way possible.  Broadcasters are not holding up their end of the bargain for either circumstance.

Votes and comments are welcome.

Scott

[murdoc]

I'd be willing to sign, but I have no idea if it would have any effect on the locals.  They have their heads so far up there you know what and only care about the poor and downtrodden viewers that freak out over flurries or cold weather.

I've already boycotted 2 of our 4 major networks.  Anything shown on NBC or CBS gets downloaded (in full 1.2GB HD rips) and streamed to my PS3 in the living room.  I don't watch any programs on ABC (not a local issue, just no programming to my liking) so only FOX gets recorded to my DVR.  In my opinion, FOX has really toned down the over use of weather in recent months.  I think the last time I saw one of their reporters standing next to a snow pile was for the major storm early in December.

[ArgMeMatey]

Since you already know the result of the poll of people on this forum, you won't be surprised when I recommend you take note of the advertisers on the offending stations.  

Now, take your poll to those advertisers and have them sign in their official capacity.  Then you can send the results to swexler and his counterparts at the other stations.

[SRW1000]

Since you already know the result of the poll of people on this forum, you won't be surprised when I recommend you take note of the advertisers on the offending stations.

Actually, I don't know the result of the poll.  Although at this point nobody has voted no, only 11 people have voted yes.  That's out of almost 150 views.  Granted, some of those views are from visitors and guests, but even taking that into consideration interest is mild at best.

Now, take your poll to those advertisers and have them sign in their official capacity.  Then you can send the results to swexler and his counterparts at the other stations.

That would have been a great second step.  But, again with only 11 votes, nobody is going to pay any attention.  And, if forum members aren't willing to click on a simple poll, they certainly won't be willing to sign up for any pledge or for any further action.  For this to have any meaning, we would have to have numbers in the hundreds, if not thousands.

I guess this just isn't a big deal for most people, after all.

Scott

[ArgMeMatey]

I guess this just isn't a big deal for most people, after all.

Point taken.  I voted.  Can you change "feed" to "fed" for the AR contingent out here?

[SRW1000]

Point taken.  I voted.  Can you change "feed" to "fed" for the AR contingent out here?

Oops, I wish I would have caught that typo before posting.  I don't think I can edit a poll after it's been posted.  That would have a pretty disingenuous effect, since the poster could change the language to a completely different meaning after most people have voted.

Scott

[hop]

Yes.  Count me in.  Since I live in Kenosha, have DirecTV and cannot use an outside antenna, I completely boycott 58 WDJT already since they have no HD with DirecTV.  I will gladly leave these stations that go SD to accomodate any watch or warning to see something in HD.

[mali]

A few weeks ago, JSOnline ran a poll about the weather. I found the results very interesting, since TMJ4 seems to have the most weather coverage. They claim they do so much weather coverage because it's what viewers want. The poll results seems to heavily contradict that!


What bothers you most about cold, snowy weather?
The weather (29%)
People who complain about the weather (16%)
Media coverage of the weather (48%)
People who complain about complainers/media (8%)
Total Responses: 6609

http://www.jsonline.com/polls/37757214.html?results=y&oid=3&mr=1&cid=8500544&pid=37757214

[SRW1000]

Well, it looks like this experiment is a failure.  Less than 10% of the people reading the post actually took the effort to vote.  Of those that voted, less than 90% of our members would support the pledge.  

For a site composed of HD enthusiasts, these are not promising results.

It's safe to say that WTMJ and all the other stations without respect for us have nothing to worry about.  They may interrupt HD programming at will, with little to no repercussions to their ratings.

That doesn't mean we still can't complain, just that there is very little chance it will matter.

Thanks to those that responded.  It would have been nice if those that voted no would have shared their reasoning with us.

Scott

[LoadStar]

I didn't bother to vote - because frankly, it is a waste of my time.

For one, online petitions, polls, etc. are worth the paper that they're printed on.

For two, we all love HD here, and I'm fairly certain that the broadcasters KNOW we love HD. But at the same time, they also know that we are a tiny minority (and we are) and that the "unwashed masses" that make up 90% of their viewership will watch anything in any format, HD or no.

This mass of viewership shouts loudly and strongly that they hate ridiculous amounts of storm coverage... but I'm certain that every one of the station managers in the area could drop a book of statistics as thick as an unabridged dictionary in front of you that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that what they SAY is not what they DO. The next time there's a storm, and the stations hype it to kingdom come, people WILL watch. They'll watch the hour 12 of Stormageddon '09, in which the reporters start doing snow angels and they interview the poor people from the DOT and the State Patrol, only to have it be exactly the same thing that they said in hours 1-11.

Yes, it's sad, but it's true. I hate to say it, but even I will often find myself watching crap like this. I watch it like I'm watching an accident unfold in front of me... horrified, but I can't look away. I watch it just to see what shameless depths these reporters, anchors, and news directors won't plumb. And very likely, regardless of my motivations, that probably does make me part of that sad statistic above.

While one would think HDTV weather coverage could be even cooler, and attract even more people... it's expensive, and I will guess that there really isn't a single bit of hard evidence that upgrading to HDTV makes even the slightest budge in the number of viewers. And in these tight financial times, I don't blame them for not wanting to spend money they don't need to spend right now, on some fancy gadget that will do HD graphic, when people will happily watch the old SD graphics.

I applaud your initiative... but the best thing you can do is just wait patiently and let television catch up to you and me. It will get better, eventually. At least, I can only hope that it will.

[SRW1000]

I didn't bother to vote - because frankly, it is a waste of my time.

For one, online petitions, polls, etc. are worth the paper that they're printed on.

For two, we all love HD here, and I'm fairly certain that the broadcasters KNOW we love HD. But at the same time, they also know that we are a tiny minority (and we are) and that the "unwashed masses" that make up 90% of their viewership will watch anything in any format, HD or no.

This mass of viewership shouts loudly and strongly that they hate ridiculous amounts of storm coverage... but I'm certain that every one of the station managers in the area could drop a book of statistics as thick as an unabridged dictionary in front of you that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that what they SAY is not what they DO. The next time there's a storm, and the stations hype it to kingdom come, people WILL watch. They'll watch the hour 12 of Stormageddon '09, in which the reporters start doing snow angels and they interview the poor people from the DOT and the State Patrol, only to have it be exactly the same thing that they said in hours 1-11.

Yes, it's sad, but it's true. I hate to say it, but even I will often find myself watching crap like this. I watch it like I'm watching an accident unfold in front of me... horrified, but I can't look away. I watch it just to see what shameless depths these reporters, anchors, and news directors won't plumb. And very likely, regardless of my motivations, that probably does make me part of that sad statistic above.

While one would think HDTV weather coverage could be even cooler, and attract even more people... it's expensive, and I will guess that there really isn't a single bit of hard evidence that upgrading to HDTV makes even the slightest budge in the number of viewers. And in these tight financial times, I don't blame them for not wanting to spend money they don't need to spend right now, on some fancy gadget that will do HD graphic, when people will happily watch the old SD graphics.

I applaud your initiative... but the best thing you can do is just wait patiently and let television catch up to you and me. It will get better, eventually. At least, I can only hope that it will.

Thanks for your input.  I agree that online polls are useless, but the intent of this thread was to take it beyond that, if it turned out that there was much interest (which doesn't appear to be the case).

Scott

[SRW1000]

Now that the poll has closed, I thought I'd post a short summary.

• A total of 40 people took the time to vote in the poll
• Well less than 10% of the people that viewed the thread bothered to even vote
• Less than half of 1% of forum members voted
• That's statistically insignificant, even for an internet poll
• As much as people complain about the interruption of HD programming, there isn't any wide-spread interest in actually trying something to change it.  Seeing as though this is a forum for enthusiasts by enthusiasts, that's telling
• If I were a station manager or programmer, and I were tracking this thread, I'd continue business as usual

Scott

[jeffski]

make that,BAD business as usual :bang: