US TV is wierd. The network and affiliate thing for a start, here in the UK we have real channels. But also it is such a bitch to get TV listings. NBC have it almost right, you can just pick your timezone and it will give you the listings of stuff on tonight. But that’s just NBC and only covers like a two hour period.
Any of the listings sites require a postcode (thank you Beverly Hills 90210, people needing generic US post codes accross the world are forever in your debt) although I managed to strumble accross some kind of listings thing on Yahoo TV where you can pick a timezone.
Stuff seems to go out at the same time on different timezones. So what, do they delay transmission depending on what timezone it is? IE, places in pacific time get programming broadcast a few hours after places on eastern time so that it all goes out at the same clock time, eg, 7pm, etc?
That’s what seems to be happening. And then when prime time shows are quoted they seem to have different times for different timezones. It really makes you appreciate the UK system, one timezone, channels that actually are channels (I know we have “regional variations” but nobody cares and nobody watches them), it’s simple.
The whole timezone thing is pretty stupid anyway as you are having to work out the variations between the timezones constantly. That is just about managable but throw in the fact that random timezones switch to daylight saving time and it’s just a joke. How can people in the UK leaving west of Greenwich be an hour ahead of it? Daylight saving needs to go.
Don't have time to check my blog? Get a weekly email with all the new posts. This is my personal blog, so obviously it is 100% spam free.
This entry was posted on Friday, August 26th, 2005 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.