U.S. Logo-Free TV Broadcast Organizations?

iluvpr0n asks: "I ran across The UK Campaign for LOGO FREE TV and admired their goals for encouraging television broadcasters to stop taking up valuable screen space with their annoying and brightly-colored logos. It's not enough to be bombarded with 8 minutes of commercials during programs, but they also need to deface a supposedly artistic work (yes, for most of television that's highly debatable) to enhance their 'brand identity' initiatives. Is anyone aware of groups with this goal operating in the US (or other non-UK locations)?" Do we really need these things anymore? I'm sure most television viewers out there can associate shows to networks, these days.

Yeah right

[agdv]

I'm sure most television viewers out there can associate shows to networks, these days.

Like that /. poll where they assumed South Park ran on Cartoon Network?

Re:OMG ...

[mrpotato]

just so you know guys, I'm there along with you too. Who the f%$? care that much about a friggin little logo that you don't even see afther a minute? Absurd and ridiculous.

Re:What's most annoying

[JimTheta]

Well, we know you haven't associated shows with channels.

Pop-up Video is a VH1 program.

-Grant/JimTheta

Re:DOG.... woof

[Erbo]

I remember hearing the technical names for these logos are DOG.

That may be true, but the usual industry term I've heard for them is "bug." Whether they call it that because it looks as garish as a squashed bug on the corner of the screen, or whether the logo bugs them, or whether they think it's a flaw in the television system that they have to put those things on screen (hence "bug"), I dunno.

Eric

Re:Logo's in the UK

[Christianfreak]

Fox News isn't even worth mentioning, do people serious watch that?

Sure, you are supposed to watch both Fox with its conservative/republican bias and CNN with its liberal/democrat bias and then take a moderate view between the two to get the true facts :)

Re:Branding TV shows.

[Rude Turnip]

That's nothing that 5 minutes with a Dremel can't fix.

Channels are easy to identify.

[VA Software]

A quick guide

• Closeups of ugly jewellery : A shopping channel; I don't care which one.
  
• Stock tickers and/or sports scores (News may be happening in one corner) : A news channel; I don't care which one.
  
• Crap music : VH1 or the country music network
  
• No music : MTV.
  
• Adverts : The Sci Fi channel.
  
• Not quite adverts : Oregon Public BroadcastingB (or your state's equivalent, obviously)
  
• People in a contrived, yet curiously unamusing, situation : A situation comedy on channels 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,12 or 13 (this is specific to my TV and you may have to consult a TV guide to determine which channels show crap sitcoms 24/7)
  
• Animals shagging : Discovery channel or channel 11 (see note above).

Not just the logos

[crazyj]

It isn't just the station/network logo that bugs me but the 'America Strikes Back" banners that use up 1/4 to 1/3 of the real estate just to display that slogan. Add in the infinite looping message scroller and you've got about 1/2 of your screen left.

The scrollers would be useful if there were more than 7 pieces of "news" on them and they weren't all such useful nuggets as "Bush address ends with 'God Bless America.'"

It is so annoying it feels like I've got AOL Instant Messenger open on my TV.

Corporate Bashing

[scoove]

I swear I am getter less sympathetic to corporations each day.

Speaking of getting really annoying. Sorry to rant, but corporate bashing is just so nonunique and tiresome.

I found myself doing the same with the cable company, the local newspaper monopoly, McDonalds (for lying about its fries - yea, I know, lame issue, but it pissed me off). Etc. I found I was whining about tons of stuff.

So I fired them all. It really has to come down to that. Don't like the station IDs on the screen? Fire them. Yank the cable. That's your choice.

Warning: Be prepared to be totally amused when you do this.

Cable: I returned everything except the cable modem (I do have my limits). Apparently nobody ever does this. The guy at the counter thought I must have been shut off for not paying when I returned all the other junk. His announcement "but your account is fine" confirmed the suspicion. Oh, apparently they don't have a process for this either. After returning all the converter junk, I discovered I now have better cable for free than I got when I paid for it (HBO is unblocked now). Guess that cable modem needs a few more things live.

Newspaper: Hell, they couldn't make three out of five successful deliveries. Fired them. Now I get every sunday (for the past two months) free and on time.

Give it a shot. Don't like the service? Fire them. Don't rant. Don't threaten. Pull the trigger. You might actually discover you like it.

Now if I could just fire the postal service...

*scoove*

Some aren't so bad...

[DennyK]

I don't mind the stations that have small, unobtrusive transparent logos in the corner. These blend right in and you usually don't notice them after a few seconds unless you look for them. Sometimes they're almost TOO hard to see when channel surfing or trying to guess what number my cable company decided to put The Foobar Channel on *this* week... ;-D

What do annoy me are:

- Big, colorful logos that don't go away. (i.e. Discovery Channel...ick!)

- Moving, blinking, hopping, skipping logos. SciFi is bad about this...I keep thinking their logo is a part of the show and wondering when it's going to eat one of the extras for breakfast... ;)

- Bars and borders. Come on, it's a station logo...it doesn't need the entire width or height of the screen. (This also applies to squishing the ending credits to show your damn ads for shows that suck...sometimes I want to read the credits for a movie for one reason or another, but good luck without a microscope or a 60" screen... Oh well, just more hits for the IMDB ;) I hate bottom bars on sports channels, too. If I'm watching NASCAR and I for some inexplicable reason really cared how the AAA-League Arkansas Mud Puddles are doing today, I will change channels and watch the damn game. ;) )

- ADS that show up on the screen during broadcasts. NBC and TNT do this crap all the time with their NASCAR broadcasts. I swear, if I'd seen the flaming Witchblade logo cover Rusty's car one more time during a race, I would have chucked something through my TV. (It's even worse when it's those lame TNT series, because then you get an ad for them every commercial break, and a dozen or two in the broadcast itself. "And we'll be right back!" "Tonight on TNT: Watch Witchblade, it's the awesomest awesome show ever!" "Welcome back! Today's broadcast is brought to you by Witchblade. Here's our leader, Jeff Gordon. Hey, Jeff can't wait to watch Witchblade tonight at 9/8 Central! You should too! Here's a great battle for third which you can't see because our kewl Witchblade logo is blocking the view. Did I mention Witchblade is on at 9/8 Central? Hey, here comes a challenge for the lead, but it's time for another commercial break. We'll be right back, and don't forget about Witchblade!" "Tonight on TNT: Watch Witchblade, it's the awesomest awesome show ever!...")

;-D

DennyK