(20-11-2010 08:32 )bytor Wrote: (20-11-2010 01:46 )vila Wrote: This is why I suggested that posters say which platform they watch - the Xtreme promos are only shown on Freeview and they come every 7 or 8 minutes, sometimes even closer.
No they are not; we get bombarded with xtreme ads about 1/2 an hour before they let the masses in! What annoys me is if you watch on sky you couldn't even watch xtreme even if you wanted too.
Have no problem with them advertising things, it is the frequency of the interuptions that I find unacceptable. We can get full screen adverts, Xtreme adverts and Geri interupting every 2 minutes also.
I thought I replied to this ages ago, but apparently not, so here goes:
The web stream is taken directly from Sky, and from that I can see that there are no Xtreme adverts on BS1. I have also had this confirmed by a Sky viewer who says that they aren't shown on Sky BSXtra either. All that ever appears on Sky are the announcements about Xtreme and its nightly content which the host girl does on the mic, sometimes with the video wall behind her or as a voice-over while a video plays full screen. What I'm referring to as Xtreme promos are the pre-recorded video adverts that Freeview is plagued with in between all the other interruptions. They smack onto the screen with no warning (at least the host announcements fade in), are usually markedly louder than the normal programme content and often start with bright white/yellow/orange flashing imagery and sometimes with an explosive sound effect. In the early part of the night there's one of those for every mic announcement and later the ratio increases to two or three. Lately they've started playing these in combinations of 2, 3 or even 4 at a time without a break.
I often watch the the web stream during the run up to Freeview's 11pm start (which is what I assume you mean by when "they let the masses in") and I don't remember seeing much, if any, mention of Xtreme at that time. The Xtreme announcements on BS1 are most frequent during the build up to Xtreme's midnight start time and for a period afterwards. Freeview gets those too and also the video ads in between them as I've said (i.e. twice as many interruptions). If you think the frequency of interruptions on Sky is unacceptable you haven't lived.
At the time I made my post, FV was also getting half-height animated OSGs advertising Xtreme, which came in between the host announcements, Xtreme promos and picture adverts. At normal speed they lasted at their full height for about 20 seconds, which is bad enough (count it), but as the night progressed they were slowed to about a 5th of the normal speed so they lasted about 2 minutes. To compound the whole thing they used to play them 2 or 3 at a time, separated by only a few seconds. That's half the screen blanked off for effectively 4-6 minutes. Thankfully these seem to have ceased and been replaced by items a bit less intrusive. (I just hope I'm not being premature in saying that.)
As for the usefulness of advertising Xtreme on Sky, it's only a small proportion of Sky viewers who can't receive the channel. No doubt Cellcast have paid attention to the latest statistics from Ofcom, which show that as at the midpoint of this year just over 66% of Sky subscribers also have Freeview. They would be stupid to ignore a potential audience of that size.
It's Freeviewers who suffer most in this situation - their viewing experience has been ruined since the advent of Xtreme.