Media Timeouts

Aug 6, 2009
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I am watching the B1G title game. Which is to say I am watching endless, endless, endless commercials. I understand that the networks are giving millions of dollars to the conference and have a right to air commercials. But at what point do the media timeouts become so frequent and so long that they start to destroy the game itself? The game is on TV for four hours and I would wager 2 hours of that air time are devoted to commercials. I know I am an old curmudgeon but I think this is becoming a real issue.
 

saluno22

All-Conference
Mar 1, 2006
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I am watching the B1G title game. Which is to say I am watching endless, endless, endless commercials. I understand that the networks are giving millions of dollars to the conference and have a right to air commercials. But at what point do the media timeouts become so frequent and so long that they start to destroy the game itself? The game is on TV for four hours and I would wager 2 hours of that air time are devoted to commercials. I know I am an old curmudgeon but I think this is becoming a real issue.
This is one of the reasons I've generally stopped watching games live.
 

TFrazier_rivals269992

All-Conference
Jun 8, 2001
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I am watching the B1G title game. Which is to say I am watching endless, endless, endless commercials. I understand that the networks are giving millions of dollars to the conference and have a right to air commercials. But at what point do the media timeouts become so frequent and so long that they start to destroy the game itself? The game is on TV for four hours and I would wager 2 hours of that air time are devoted to commercials. I know I am an old curmudgeon but I think this is becoming a real issue.

I think Coach Frost agrees with you. Winking

 

schuele

All-American
Apr 17, 2005
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But if the offense gets within a yard of a first down, just call it good and wave the chain gang forward. Measurements take too long!
 

jlb321_rivals110621

All-American
Aug 8, 2014
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should the big ten negotiate for less media money in return for fewer media game disruptions?

maybe agree to give up $1.3 billion -50% of the money - in exchange for cutting media interruptions by 50%


TV real estate
Under a deal signed in 2017, ESPN now pays $190 million per season for some Big Ten games (they also include basketball games). Fox pays more for a better pick of games, about $240 million per season, according to the Washington Post.
Collectively, the Big Ten rights are valued at $2.64 billion over six years, according to media reports.
 

saluno22

All-Conference
Mar 1, 2006
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Good point. I do that with normal tv. I start watching about 20 minutes into an hour long program to avoid the live commercials. Winking
I got Hulu + Live TV (no ads) and the Enhanced DVR or whatever. There are times where it still won't allow fast forward during ads.
 

TFrazier_rivals269992

All-Conference
Jun 8, 2001
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We still have cable but we get a real good deal for cable/internet. I have learned to be pretty proficient fast forwarding thru commercials.
 

steinek11

All-Conference
Apr 18, 2004
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I am watching the B1G title game. Which is to say I am watching endless, endless, endless commercials. I understand that the networks are giving millions of dollars to the conference and have a right to air commercials. But at what point do the media timeouts become so frequent and so long that they start to destroy the game itself? The game is on TV for four hours and I would wager 2 hours of that air time are devoted to commercials. I know I am an old curmudgeon but I think this is becoming a real issue.
Yeah, I hate. But, I use the time at home to get chores done so it doesn't feel like an entire waste of time. But at games, it is insufferable. It just makes me so angry 😆
 

saluno22

All-Conference
Mar 1, 2006
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Yeah, I hate. But, I use the time at home to get chores done so it doesn't feel like an entire waste of time. But at games, it is insufferable. It just makes me so angry 😆
I know in baseball, the person who is in charge of holding up the game for commercials gets abused pretty good. Would be a terrible job.
 
Aug 6, 2009
15,511
9,089
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should the big ten negotiate for less media money in return for fewer media game disruptions?

maybe agree to give up $1.3 billion -50% of the money - in exchange for cutting media interruptions by 50%


TV real estate
Under a deal signed in 2017, ESPN now pays $190 million per season for some Big Ten games (they also include basketball games). Fox pays more for a better pick of games, about $240 million per season, according to the Washington Post.
Collectively, the Big Ten rights are valued at $2.64 billion over six years, according to media reports.
I could live with that.
 

schuele

All-American
Apr 17, 2005
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The media timeouts are even worse when you have to sit through Discover Card's "No!" commercial 500 times.

I want everyone in that commercial banned from TV. N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no exceptions!
 

donahues17

Senior
Nov 5, 2005
6,682
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Im thinking that they have to have 2x the number of commercials as a normal year. With no fans and losing millions of dollars in revenue, they make it up by airing more commercials. It may not be what is going on but a logical explanation.
 
Aug 6, 2009
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I mean let's do a thought experiment here. Let's say the networks offered to triple the amount of revenue it gives to the conference for football. The amounts are stratospheric and everyone is ecstatic. But then Fox tells the B1G office that in exchange it wants to air five minutes of commercials after every first down and after every penalty as well as commercials during the usual stoppages. Would we take the deal? I would hope not. Because that would absolutely destroy the game. But we are already rapidly reaching the point where the games are literally being ruined by five minutes of commercials every five minutes. We have commercials now: After every change of possession and after every kick. After every score. After every timeout for an injured player. At most timeouts for a play review. After any timeout by a team. At the end of each quarter. The most galling of all is the five minutes of commercials after a team scores. Then another five minutes right after the next kickoff. You will literally watch one kickoff wedged in between ten minutes of commercials. It has reached the point of absurdity. And there is no logical reason why it can't get worse.
 
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MOHUSKER

All-Conference
Nov 1, 2009
16,561
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Watching lots more live soccer because of this, 45 uninterrupted in the 1st half, 15 minute halftime then 45 more uninterrupted. The only annoying part is the channels have started saying the game will start 15-30 minutes before kickoff to try to get you to watch their pre-game crap and commercials, but all sports are doing that.
 

Baxter48_rivals204143

All-Conference
Sep 22, 2010
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You think tv timeouts are bad try listening to the radio broadcast especially like Nebraska football, i like Gregg Sharpe he’s a really good announcer but the commercials they have during the broadcast is almost unbearable, Lyle wouldn’t Be able to do his type of broadcast today
 

schuele

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Apr 17, 2005
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You think tv timeouts are bad try listening to the radio broadcast especially like Nebraska football, i like Gregg Sharpe he’s a really good announcer but the commercials they have during the broadcast is almost unbearable, Lyle wouldn’t Be able to do his type of broadcast today
The pregame shows are even more brutal. Has to be about 5 minutes of commercials for every one minute of content.
 

Reditus

Redshirt
Jun 20, 2019
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What bugs me is that they have been trying to shorten games in most sports but not the commercials.

As far as the radio broadcast, it's better than the Swain years. Where he'd say touchdown and then immediately launch into a short commercial line destroying the ambience.

Also some years back for the post game basketball coaches talk, they would break for a commercial after every question, no matter how long the answer. Horrible. Also hate in the interview they would break come back from commercial and then announce it was the end of the show! I waited through a commercial for nothing! Bastards.

Anymore at night, I fall asleep during the commercials and wake up 2 hours later after the game/movie is over, but just in time for bed-time where I immediately conk out.

I think baseball is the easiest sport to listen to on radio and best for regulating commercials.
 

HuskersWay

Redshirt
Nov 3, 2019
162
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Yeah, I hate. But, I use the time at home to get chores done so it doesn't feel like an entire waste of time. But at games, it is insufferable. It just makes me so angry 😆
Those TV timeouts are just brutal to sit through when you're actually sitting in Memorial Stadium - you resent it, it would be like paying full price at a movie theater and having the movie interrupted by commercials - that and a general lack of enthusiasm for watching us play Big 10 teams are the main reasons why I quit going to two home games a year and now watch on TV only.
 

saluno22

All-Conference
Mar 1, 2006
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Those TV timeouts are just brutal to sit through when you're actually sitting in Memorial Stadium - you resent it, it would be like paying full price at a movie theater and having the movie interrupted by commercials - that and a general lack of enthusiasm for watching us play Big 10 teams are the main reasons why I quit going to two home games a year and now watch on TV only.
I will say felt the "change" in attitude of games (TV vs. in-game) was when they changes the conference logos on the Memorial Stadium turf to both face the press box to be read by viewers at home rather than one facing each direction.
 
Feb 17, 2008
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You think tv timeouts are bad try listening to the radio broadcast especially like Nebraska football, i like Gregg Sharpe he’s a really good announcer but the commercials they have during the broadcast is almost unbearable, Lyle wouldn’t Be able to do his type of broadcast today
It's Lyell :)
 

schuele

All-American
Apr 17, 2005
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Greg is sick of them too!


I generally like Sharpe, but in my opinion this isn't one of his finer moments.

This happens to Nebraska all the time following turnovers? Hadn't the Huskers forced only one turnover in the previous four games?
 
Aug 6, 2009
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I generally like Sharpe, but in my opinion this isn't one of his finer moments.

This happens to Nebraska all the time following turnovers? Hadn't the Huskers forced only one turnover in the previous four games?
I think it is one of his finer moments. You are correct that we have not gotten many turnovers. So Sharpe is wrong to imply this happens to us "all the time." So I take his remarks to be him venting his frustration, just as I did in the OP, with what is becoming a truly oppressive amount of commercial breaks. It really has gotten to the point of obnoxiousness. And it gives the lie to the B1G office when it says it puts player safety first. Because let me tell you (I live two hours from Rutgers) it was ******* cold here that night. And by obnoxiously making sure that all of their precious commercials aired, the B1G and Fox extended greatly the amount of time the players had to spend breathing in frigid 5 degree air. It increased the amount of time they are just standing around in freezing cold temps with their muscles and ligaments and tendons tightening up as they stand and wait for the ******* Discover Card commercials to end. Player safety first? Warren is a phony and he can kiss my ***. He does not give a crap about the players. If he did he would have called Fox and said "in the interests of player safety in arctic temps please cut the commercials by one third. We will refund the difference to the network." After all, it is that idiot's fault we are playing a game on December 18th, at night, in New Jersey, in the first place. I think ALL of this was on Sharpe's mind.
 

Headcard

Heisman
Feb 2, 2005
192,508
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I generally like Sharpe, but in my opinion this isn't one of his finer moments.

This happens to Nebraska all the time following turnovers? Hadn't the Huskers forced only one turnover in the previous four games?
Local Radio guys are homers. You just have to laugh.
 

schuele

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Apr 17, 2005
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I think it is one of his finer moments. You are correct that we have not gotten many turnovers. So Sharpe is wrong to imply this happens to us "all the time." So I take his remarks to be him venting his frustration, just as I did in the OP, with what is becoming a truly oppressive amount of commercial breaks. It really has gotten to the point of obnoxiousness. And it gives the lie to the B1G office when it says it puts player safety first. Because let me tell you (I live two hours from Rutgers) it was ****ing cold here that night. And by obnoxiously making sure that all of their precious commercials aired, the B1G and Fox extended greatly the amount of time the players had to spend breathing in frigid 5 degree air. It increased the amount of time they are just standing around in freezing cold temps with their muscles and ligaments and tendons tightening up as they stand and wait for the ****ing Discover Card commercials to end. Player safety first? Warren is a phony and he can kiss my ***. He does not give a crap about the players. If he did he would have called Fox and said "in the interests of player safety in arctic temps please cut the commercials by one third. We will refund the difference to the network." After all, it is that idiot's fault we are playing a game on December 18th, at night, in New Jersey, in the first place. I think ALL of this was on Sharpe's mind.
Yeah, fine - I hate the endless media timeouts too. But sorry, Greg, I don't think someone in the TV truck said, "Hey remember three weeks ago on Black Friday, when Nebraska last forced a turnover? Well the next time that happens, we're absolutely taking a momentum-killing break!"

Sharpe sounded like he was just absolutely dying to parrot Scott Frost's media timeout gripe, and went a bit overboard.
 
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cubsker_rivals142943

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May 29, 2003
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But if the offense gets within a yard of a first down, just call it good and wave the chain gang forward. Measurements take too long!

My idea is that on every first down except first and goal, you mark the ball to the closest yard line. That way, you never need chains.
 
Aug 6, 2009
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Yeah, fine - I hate the endless media timeouts too. But sorry, Greg, I don't think someone in the TV truck said, "Hey remember three weeks ago on Black Friday, when Nebraska last forced a turnover? Well the next time that happens, we're absolutely taking a momentum-killing break!"

Sharpe sounded like he was just absolutely dying to parrot Scott Frost's media timeout gripe, and went a bit overboard.
Or maybe he was as genuinely frustrated as many of us are at how out of control the media timeouts have gotten. I know I am raising a fruitless point here since nothing is going to stop the money being made and the general thrust of ever increasing commercials. It isn't just that the number of timeouts has increased but the duration of each break has as well. Nothing will be done about it and so I vent my frustration to the air! lol.
 
May 29, 2001
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The media timeouts are even worse when you have to sit through Discover Card's "No!" commercial 500 times.

I want everyone in that commercial banned from TV. N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no exceptions!
I used to like that commercial. Now it is like being water boarded.
 

NUSouth

Sophomore
Oct 25, 2009
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This is one of the reasons I've generally stopped watching games live.

Watching a game in person now is pure torture because of the long commercial delays. Here is what we should do.

For those watching on TV, DVR. Enough said.

As far as the live game do the same thing as golf. You ever seen a TV guy tell Tiger to wait to hit a shot because they are on commercial break ? Play the games without any commercial breaks, the TV can then insert their commercials and show the game slightly delayed. They can catch up to live during halftime.
 

saluno22

All-Conference
Mar 1, 2006
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Watching a game in person now is pure torture because of the long commercial delays. Here is what we should do.

For those watching on TV, DVR. Enough said.

As far as the live game do the same thing as golf. You ever seen a TV guy tell Tiger to wait to hit a shot because they are on commercial break ? Play the games without any commercial breaks, the TV can then insert their commercials and show the game slightly delayed. They can catch up to live during halftime.
I'm a big fan of Olympic hockey for this reason. Not sure if they still do it, but I know a few Olympics ago, the IOC refused to have longer, in-period breaks for commercials and told NBC to either do what you said or miss some of the action in the broadcast.
 

GBR01

Redshirt
Feb 28, 2010
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During the televised 1976 Nebraska vs. Missouri game Bremser and Pavelka commented several times on the length of TV time outs because they had to fill the time in with extra chatter. Those time outs were only 2 minutes each and only 4 times per half. Bremser thought it was a fair trade to be able to watch a game on television.
 

oldjar07

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2009
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Yeah, fine - I hate the endless media timeouts too. But sorry, Greg, I don't think someone in the TV truck said, "Hey remember three weeks ago on Black Friday, when Nebraska last forced a turnover? Well the next time that happens, we're absolutely taking a momentum-killing break!"

Sharpe sounded like he was just absolutely dying to parrot Scott Frost's media timeout gripe, and went a bit overboard.
Yeah it was ridiculous. Media timeouts almost always happen on a turnover of possession. I don't think media timeouts are any worse than they've been in prior years. We're a loser team that just needs to find something to ***** about.
 
Aug 6, 2009
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Yeah it was ridiculous. Media timeouts almost always happen on a turnover of possession. I don't think media timeouts are any worse than they've been in prior years. We're a loser team that just needs to find something to ***** about.
They are worse. This is a demonstrable fact. However, I am not blaming our lousy season on the timeouts. Nor do I think Frost was either. Too much was made of his comment. He did not blame our loss on the timeouts.