# Presidential Address to Congress 2-24-09



## brianric

Presidential Address to Congress, 9-10 PM EST. I only watch NCIS, so I'm not affected.


----------



## sieglinde

The stations had enough of a heads up that they seem to have appropriately changed their schedules. Assume this is going to run long since the wonks (that includes me) will stay around for the Republican response which is being done by a potential 2012 Presidential candidate Governor Jindal of Louisiana.


----------



## Einselen

This will also shift American Idol to Wed and Thursday this week, so if you record that show check your season passes as Idol will be 2 hrs (vs the 1 it would have been) and then 1 hr results on Thursday.


----------



## Bierboy

Thank goodness I've got a Blackhawks hockey game on the TDL for tomorrow night! Otherwise I'd die of boredom....


----------



## ElJay

I am amused one again by the people on a forum for a DVR that are screaming about the President taking an hour out of prime time, as if they'll have nothing to watch for that hour and that whatever was previously scheduled will be forever lost in the ether.


----------



## Einselen

Also this isn't done during sweeps, actually due to the digital transition (or what was supposed to be) a lot of shows are doing reruns right now.

However, this thread is warranted in SP as the speech/coverage can easily run long and bump shows back leaving us with the ends of shows cut off as well as AI, a very popular show, being moved to nights it normally does not run on.


----------



## dswallow

ElJay said:


> I am amused one again by the people on a forum for a DVR that are screaming about the President taking an hour out of prime time, as if they'll have nothing to watch for that hour and that whatever was previously scheduled will be forever lost in the ether.


The problem is that it screws up recordings.

Now whatever content one might've had in the timeslot will most likely still record. And now that episode/program will be identified as already recorded, so next week, when it really airs, it won't be recorded, because the TiVo will think it's already been recorded (the 28-day rule)... unless TiVo pushes out a programming data fix after the fact to specifically deal with this -- and they have done so in the past, at least on occasion.

Now if the guide data manages to get changed in time, but changes made in the last 24-48 hours generally don't manage to make it to many receivers in time.

Finally, much of the time, these special interruptions in regular programming are unnecessary. It could be handled much more gracefully; for one, it's supposed to be to Congress... so why not make the address during the day? And if "the people" need a special broadcast, must it happen on practically every over-the-air station simultaneously? Perhaps it could rotate in each market for live coverage, and other stations replay it later -- allowing more people (who don't have benefit of DVR's or did not record it and want to watch it) to see it.

This archaic ritual of interrupting regular programming for "maximum viewers" should be reconsidered and updated based on the completely different broadcast situation we are in in this century.


----------



## Einselen

dswallow said:


> Now whatever content one might've had in the timeslot will most likely still record. And now that episode/program will be identified as already recorded, so next week, when it really airs, it won't be recorded, because the TiVo will think it's already been recorded (the 28-day rule)... unless TiVo pushes out a programming data fix after the fact to specifically deal with this -- and they have done so in the past, at least on occasion.


I have not checked my TiVos' schedule yet but I believe this coverage was known weeks ago (at least, if not further out) so I hope this is not an issue this time around.


----------



## jcaudle

Although if its the mindless American Idol crap, maybe I would rather see Obama.


----------



## reddice

I would rather watch Obama than any reality crud like American Idol. I always hated American Idol.


----------



## mattack

ElJay said:


> I am amused one again by the people on a forum for a DVR that are screaming about the President taking an hour out of prime time, as if they'll have nothing to watch for that hour and that whatever was previously scheduled will be forever lost in the ether.


dswallow mostly covered it, but the reason for your amusement is sort of why people are annoyed.

Some of us possibly wouldn't notice *FOR MONTHS* that they had missed recordings and/or had clipped recordings (due to shows being started in progress, or delayed from their original start times).

Again, in this case, it was known far enough ahead of time.. but sometimes it isn't. (and I don't even mean just "breaking news".. but things like sports.)


----------



## Einselen

It isn't just about knowing ahead of time either. It is a live event that we have to monitor. The last Presidential Address was over the hour scheduled and CBS made a few brief remarks and then cut out, but even then those brief remarks to push shows back a few minutes still screwed up recordings.


----------



## bballcards

Anyone who watches American Idol (or any other of the ridiculous reality shows) is a chump. Networks love it when the mindless American public watches this crap, since it's far easier to produce on short notice and is much, much cheaper. WATCH SCRIPTED SHOWS.


----------



## Einselen

bballcards said:


> Anyone who watches American Idol (or any other of the ridiculous reality shows) is a chump. Networks love it when the mindless American public watches this crap, since it's far easier to produce on short notice and is much, much cheaper. WATCH SCRIPTED SHOWS.


You know there is a name for people like you and it is not "lurker".


----------



## dswallow

Einselen said:


> You know there is a name for people like you and it is not "lurker".


Yep. Truthsayer.


----------



## djwilso

jcaudle said:


> Although if its the mindless American Idol crap, maybe I would rather see Obama.


It's actually more mindless to not know the difference between "its" and "it's".

Do you know that "it's" means "it is"? And that it never means anything else other than "it is"? It's so simple, I don't understand why our schools fail so dismally in teaching such a simple concept.

Regardless, I would also rather hear Obama speak than watch American Idol.


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

_Why_ is he on TV again? What could he possibly have to say that he hasn't already said in the bajillion times he's already been on? It's only been a month and he's already on more than Billy Mays. At least Mays has credibility.


----------



## sieglinde

Billy Mays? Who? 

Pad a bit. Sounds like this could be a long speech and Gov. Jindal will be doing the Republican response.


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

sieglinde said:


> Billy Mays? Who?
> 
> Pad a bit. Sounds like this could be a long speech and Gov. Jindal will be doing the Republican response.


----------



## jay_man2

sieglinde said:


> Billy Mays? Who?
> 
> ....


Infomercial pitchman Billy Mays.

http://video.google.com/videosearch...sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#


----------



## restart88

Hey, who stole my post!


----------



## ElJay

EvilMidniteBombr said:


> _Why_ is he on TV again? What could he possibly have to say that he hasn't already said in the bajillion times he's already been on? It's only been a month and he's already on more than Billy Mays. At least Mays has credibility.


OK... We had the presidential inauguration. We had a prime time press conference. We had a prime time address to congress last night.

Unless three = bajilion, I don't quite get the problem. These three things would've happened no matter who was elected president and it should settle down now.


----------



## jay_man2

The OP may be used to President Bush's approach, where he had like 3 news conferences in 8 years.


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

ElJay said:


> OK... We had the presidential inauguration. We had a prime time press conference. We had a prime time address to congress last night.
> 
> Unless three = bajilion, I don't quite get the problem. These three things would've happened no matter who was elected president and it should settle down now.


Not to mention all the special interviews he's had. The countless press conferences for every single cabinet nominee. THe pre-Superbowl interview.


----------



## dswallow

EvilMidniteBombr said:


> Not to mention all the special interviews he's had. The countless press conferences for every single cabinet nominee. THe pre-Superbowl interview.


There's a bunch of TV's in the cafeteria here, and I swear it seems like at lunch time every day since several months before the election, you cannot be in the cafeteria without Obama being on TV there. If I hadn't already long ago tuned out the crapfest television calls news, I'd be tuning it out by now, for sure.


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

dswallow said:


> There's a bunch of TV's in the cafeteria here, and I swear it seems like at lunch time every day since several months before the election, you cannot be in the cafeteria without Obama being on TV there. If I hadn't already long ago tuned out the crapfest television calls news, I'd be tuning it out by now, for sure.


Exactly.


----------



## restart88

ElJay said:


> OK... We had the presidential inauguration. We had a prime time press conference. We had a prime time address to congress last night.
> 
> Unless three = bajilion, I don't quite get the problem. These three things would've happened no matter who was elected president and it should settle down now.


Actually Evil has a good point about being tired of the habitual song & dance routine. And that was essentially the point of my post that seems to have vanished, which I am none too happy about.

There are quite enough cable news channels in addition to PBS so there is no reason in the world for all the main broadcast channels to carry these Presidential infomercials.


----------



## sieglinde

Would you resent it if it was somebody you really liked? I watched all of Bush's State of the Union speeches and his one non-Stete of the Union speechs and they took up all the channels. 

I don't think any programs were interfered with so why care? Watch something you have recorded, or a DVD or the basketball game mentioned by the twittering congressman.


----------



## astrohip

sieglinde said:


> Would you resent it if it was somebody you really liked?


Yeah, I would. I am one of those sad, pitiful folks for whom TV is waaay too high a priority. I get pissed when *anything or anyone *disrupts my schedules.


----------



## restart88

sieglinde said:


> Would you resent it if it was somebody you really liked? I watched all of Bush's State of the Union speeches and his one non-Stete of the Union speechs and they took up all the channels.
> 
> I don't think any programs were interfered with so why care? Watch something you have recorded, or a DVD or the basketball game mentioned by the twittering congressman.


I would say the same about it no matter who it was. If it's carried on PBS and the cable news channels too then carrying it on EVERY main broadcast channel is absolutely needless.


----------



## sieglinde

This may be a carryover when the networks were the only channels carrying live news and they don't want to lose that tradition.

Actually for OTA folks, NBC, ABC and CBS may be the only channels they receive.


----------



## restart88

Actually I think it's a throwback from the networks being able to get ratings from carrying it. Today with so very many channels carrying it all it does is tick off folks like me who would rather watch a better work of fiction.


----------



## Rogerallen

About 10% of households with TVs in the US are OTA and if the major networks did not carrry these speechs, then they would not be able to see them at all.


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

Rogerallen said:


> About 10% of households with TVs in the US are OTA and if the major networks did not carrry these speechs, then they would not be able to see them at all.


How many of those 10% have access to PBS OTA? I'll wager near 100%. They can watch it there.


----------



## Rogerallen

EvilMidniteBombr said:


> How many of those 10% have access to PBS OTA? I'll wager near 100%. They can watch it there.


Any facts to back your assumption?


----------



## dswallow

Rogerallen said:


> Any facts to back your assumption?


http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20080225_dtvtransition.html



> For many years, the American public has called PBS and PBS stations the nations most trusted public institution, said Paula Kerger, PBS President and CEO. This fact, combined with *PBS reach into 99 percent of the countrys television households* and the ability of each member station to interact with people in their own communities, has led us to initiate this year-long effort.


----------



## Rogerallen

dswallow said:


> http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20080225_dtvtransition.html


Yea. I saw that one too but It doesn't seperate out the cable from the OTA in the 99%. It does say that 21 million households are OTA. That is out of 111.4 million TV households. I'm not seeing anything about how many of those 21 million have access to PBS. I looked but couldn't find any kind of map showing OTA PBS coverage over the nation but I suspect that alot of rural areas might not have coverage.


----------



## dswallow

Rogerallen said:


> Yea. I saw that one too but It doesn't seperate out the cable from the OTA in the 99%. It does say that 21 million households are OTA. That is out of 111.4 million TV households. I'm not seeing anything about how many of those 21 million have access to PBS. I looked but couldn't find any kind of map showing OTA PBS coverage over the nation but I suspect that alot of rural areas might not have coverage.


Isn't the point mostly about whether or not receiving PBS is an option? If they get it via cable, then they're also most likely able to get the presidential addresses from somewhere should the major broadcast networks stop carrying them live.

So there are "1%" that cannot or do not get PBS in any manner, OTA or via Cable or Satellite.


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

Rogerallen said:


> Any facts to back your assumption?


I used the same source that you cited in your post about "if the major networks did not carrry these speechs, then they would not be able to see them at all."


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

Rogerallen said:


> Yea. I saw that one too but It doesn't seperate out the cable from the OTA in the 99%. It does say that 21 million households are OTA. That is out of 111.4 million TV households. I'm not seeing anything about how many of those 21 million have access to PBS. I looked but couldn't find any kind of map showing OTA PBS coverage over the nation but I suspect that alot of rural areas might not have coverage.


If a rural area does not have PBS coverage, then it is logical to assume that they are too rural to be able to receive any of the major networks OTA.


----------



## MountainMan41

EvilMidniteBombr said:


> Not to mention all the special interviews he's had. The countless press conferences for every single cabinet nominee. THe pre-Superbowl interview.


*The Nielsen Ratings for Feb 23 - Mar 1 Top 15 Cable Series *shows: "Pres Address/Analysis(s)-02/24/2009" on FOXNC at 10:09 in *5th place*, "Obama Address to Congress(s)-02/24/2009 on FOXNC at 9:17 in *6th place*, "Obama Cong Address" (2/24/2009) on CNN at 9:15 in *7th place*, "Pres Address/GOP Response(s)=02/24/2009" on FOXNC at 10:24 in *9th place*, SR/Obama Cong Analysis (2/24/2009) on CNN at 10:09 in *10th place*, and "Pres Address Cvg(s)-02/24/2009 on FOXNC at 9:00 in *15th place*.

With six of the 15 top cable network spots going to those programs, I guess somebody wanted to see the political speeches.

Oh, yeah...by the way...numbers 2 and 3 were both "WWE Raw" (wrestling). Number 1 was The Closer, #4 was Burn Notice, #8 was NCIS, and ALL of the numbers 11 through 14 were various other episodes of *NCIS*. Go Ziva!!


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

MountainMan41 said:


> *The Nielsen Ratings for Feb 23 - Mar 1 Top 15 Cable Series *shows: "Pres Address/Analysis(s)-02/24/2009" on FOXNC at 10:09 in *5th place*, "Obama Address to Congress(s)-02/24/2009 on FOXNC at 9:17 in *6th place*, "Obama Cong Address" (2/24/2009) on CNN at 9:15 in *7th place*, "Pres Address/GOP Response(s)=02/24/2009" on FOXNC at 10:24 in *9th place*, SR/Obama Cong Analysis (2/24/2009) on CNN at 10:09 in *10th place*, and "Pres Address Cvg(s)-02/24/2009 on FOXNC at 9:00 in *15th place*.
> 
> With six of the 15 top cable network spots going to those programs, I guess somebody wanted to see the political speeches.
> 
> Oh, yeah...by the way...numbers 2 and 3 were both "WWE Raw" (wrestling). Number 1 was The Closer, #4 was Burn Notice, #8 was NCIS, and ALL of the numbers 11 through 14 were various other episodes of *NCIS*. Go Ziva!!


That sort of reinforces the point others have made and mine too (but not necessarily the selection you quoted). Even though those were all aired on the same date it shows that coverage is readily available on cable. With all of the options to see these speeches it's ridiculous to have to interrupt all of the major networks.


----------



## dswallow

MountainMan41 said:


> *The Nielsen Ratings for Feb 23 - Mar 1 Top 15 Cable Series *shows: "Pres Address/Analysis(s)-02/24/2009" on FOXNC at 10:09 in *5th place*, "Obama Address to Congress(s)-02/24/2009 on FOXNC at 9:17 in *6th place*, "Obama Cong Address" (2/24/2009) on CNN at 9:15 in *7th place*, "Pres Address/GOP Response(s)=02/24/2009" on FOXNC at 10:24 in *9th place*, SR/Obama Cong Analysis (2/24/2009) on CNN at 10:09 in *10th place*, and "Pres Address Cvg(s)-02/24/2009 on FOXNC at 9:00 in *15th place*.
> 
> With six of the 15 top cable network spots going to those programs, I guess somebody wanted to see the political speeches.
> 
> Oh, yeah...by the way...numbers 2 and 3 were both "WWE Raw" (wrestling). Number 1 was The Closer, #4 was Burn Notice, #8 was NCIS, and ALL of the numbers 11 through 14 were various other episodes of *NCIS*. Go Ziva!!


If a major network broadcast one hour of black screen and silence, I believe it'd still get a Nielsen's rating higher than many other shows.

When you pre-empt most everything someone might choose to watch, it's probably more likely they'll just leave it on one of the pre-empted channels if they can't find something they desire. Even that can produce ratings. But it doesn't demonstrate anyone's actually attention to the program that's on that they may not have really chosen to watch.


----------



## Rogerallen

EvilMidniteBombr said:


> If a rural area does not have PBS coverage, then it is logical to assume that they are too rural to be able to receive any of the major networks OTA.


I don't think that is a logical assumption at all. I imagine there are more ABC/CBS/NBC affiliates than PBS affiliates in the country and I imagine that making money off of advertising vs pledge drives gives them better equipment with better coverage. I'm not yet convinced that the number of people without access to PBS is 1%.

As for the major networks and their ratings while covering the speeches, they wouldn't preempt regular programming and ad time unless they were going to get something out of it. Even if its just more face time for their news teams or protecting their White House access.

These days, news coverage is all about the bottom line adn not so much about reporting the news.


----------



## HTH

Presidential Addresses have been known to affect pre-empted shows negatively. The episode "The Dregs of Humanity: Part 2" of _It's Your Move_ was to air on January 9, 1985 but was preempted by Ronald Reagan. Rather than shift the schedule to show it the next week, it was skipped. The series' ratings plummeted and it was canceled.

But then that's probably more the network's fault at not rescheduling. It can serve as a litmus test for a TV series though if preemption leads to rescheduling or not.


----------



## mattack

Someone else who remembers It's Your Move.. (I remember the voiceover about the 'best friend' playing soccer.. and I think he was going for a goal.. it freeze frames.. and then it says something like "oh, let him have it", and he makes it..)

oh, and will this thread ever die?


----------



## EvilMidniteBombr

Rogerallen said:


> I don't think that is a logical assumption at all. I imagine there are more ABC/CBS/NBC affiliates than PBS affiliates in the country and I imagine that making money off of advertising vs pledge drives gives them better equipment with better coverage. I'm not yet convinced that the number of people without access to PBS is 1%.
> 
> As for the major networks and their ratings while covering the speeches, they wouldn't preempt regular programming and ad time unless they were going to get something out of it. Even if its just more face time for their news teams or protecting their White House access.
> 
> These days, news coverage is all about the bottom line adn not so much about reporting the news.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PBS_member_stations
I quit counting at 250 less than halfway through the list. Not counting repeaters. There are 16 stations in my state alone. ABC (3), CBS (3), NBC (4), Fox (4) all in only 7 cities and many of those share the same city.


----------

