Has anyone noticed the small "abc" and "fox" logos that appear during
the broadcasts of thier programs?? I find them to be an insult to me, my
brain and memory, I mean, If I cannot remeber what network I am viewing
just 5 minutes after I put the darn thing on, someone please whack me good!

     What do you think of these? Do you like them? HATE them??
tell it here!!!

15 responses total.

I doubt it has anything to do with station ID for viewers.  More likely
it's to keep track of people who tape programs, so that if they ever
manage to make home taping illegal, they'll be able to track down where
you got it.

The logos aren't restricted to ABC and Fox -- a lot of the cable
channels use them too.  I find them irritating but imagine the reason
is much as Rob suggests:  putting a damper on pirating.

  I don't have cable. But I do see your arguement. Still in all, these little
logos somehow focus my attention away from the action on the screen. I am
used to watching for storm reports and the like....
  I don't mind the little logos that indicate a warning type situation.

Re #0: Good topic.    
Re #1: You took the words right out of my mouth.
Re #2: Cnn uses these a lot. 

It is station identification, increasing in frequency with the multiplication
of new cable channels.  If you think it's bad now, just wait a few years (the
upcoming "500 channel" days.)

   That is bullshit, aaron. Networks don't need to identify ALL the time and
local stations only need to id once every 15 minutes either via voice "This
is WXYZ-TV Detroit" or via "super" which is merely superimposing thier call
letters on the screen. 
   It is annoying and insulting, and that's really all it is, nothing more.

That's yammering idiocy, Jim.  (Just thought you would appreciate a
response in kind.)

Actually, Jim, if you bothered to check you might find that cable systems
already carry a lot of channels, that people don't necessarily know what
number correlates to a particular channel, that cable guides are confusing
due to the different numbering systems for even neighboring communities,
and that people flipping through channels might note those little symbols
and realize what channel they were watching....

The worst example of this was during the Comedy Channel's "Splitting Heirs" 
week-end, when they thought they'd push Eric Idle's new movie by showing Hours
upon hours of British comedy (including all the Black Adders, even though Eric
Idle had nothing to do with that).  As if Mr. Idle's shameless plugs weren't 
annoying enough, frequently there was an ugly yellow splotch in the corner of 
the screen saying "Splitting Heirs" throughout the whole thing.

Well, I think I found a jsutification or rationale for those channel logos.
When you are in different city, away from home, turn on the tv, dont have
a TV guide, want to watch your Northern Exposure. .but cant find CBS. . .
those little logos help.

Aaron and Audrey are right on.  With cable, a station can appear on 
any channel.  The logo is there to help channel surfers find the network
they want to see.

  This can happen even without cable, But I still maintain that this is 
another little nick out of the requirement to be literate in this society.
It is no big task to pick up a paper an read the listings, and usually
they have the networks liste

What if you don't have a newspaper?  This happens quite frequently when
you're in some hotel room in some strange city.

Granted the TV station "bugs" as they are called, are a tad annoying, but
I agree they can be helpful.  I came to college, and had to adjust to a 
different cable system.  We were given no channel translation card, the
TV guide didn't print cable channels, and the nearest newspaper was across
campus.  I was able to sit and write down all the channels for future reference
just by flipping through the channels and looking at the bugs.

if it's so annoying, turn it off.  better yet, defenestrate it!

Overkill.  I don't hate 'em *that* much.  Well, when a more interactive
form of TV becomes a reality, maybe you'll be able to select whether the
bugs are on or off, just like you can do with display features in many
computer programs.

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