Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

I have just been watching / pausing a few random channels and have just noticed a pop up advert on the OSD Pause/Play Bar. The adverts are for `VUE` , `nector swim / Double Value Exchange ` , ` . `Cafe Rouge` and LegoLand Windsor Resort`. Pressing the Up Key when the Pause Bar is on the screen also seems to minimize/maximise them. Is this new ? It seems to be a bit random when it is doing it.

---------- Post added at 19:55 ---------- Previous post was at 19:53 ----------

Seems to be on 527 - Extreme at the moment.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

It's annoying, that's all I know. The only advertising i've ever seen was for Batchelors and it was on CBS Reality

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

So we now see even more adverts on a platform we already pay for ? Is that within there Ts&Cs that they can bombard me/us with Ads? First it was OnDemand then MusicOD not to mention there website where I/we pay our bills ( irony ?? ) . Im not happy like ...

---------- Post added at 20:11 ---------- Previous post was at 20:07 ----------

So its the `Low Budget` channels there on then :-| I wonder if the channel's get a cut ??

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Truthfully, does it REALLY matter ? - choose not to watch the ads when you pause. Lets be truthful here. If you pause, then you do so because you are unable to watch, so on that basis, what's the harm ....

Anything that helps keep the cost down has to be a good thing

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Not greed then ? The money the sponsor's pay goes towards cost cutting does it? Maybe I'm just cynical .. Does SKY do this??

---------- Post added at 20:38 ---------- Previous post was at 20:32 ----------

There is NO choice, it pops up on the first Pause press.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

I'm not sure what the point of it is to be honest. They're just company logos, and you can't click through to see further information for the advert. Are they just the programme sponsors?

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Well, I find it imposing and annoying given that we already pay a pretty good whack for Virgin's service which I'd hope would go some way towards not requiring the company to further enhance their revenue by exploiting their customer base.

Personally, I find it ethically dubious for them to place these advertisements on the service that we have subscribed to. Everytime I see the ad's it provokes a feeling of aggravation. Still, I'm sure it's covered by T&C's.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Well now I'm feeling left out. I've never seen an ad on the pause bar! I always miss the good stuff :-P

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

I pay for a magazine subscription and there are adverts in there. Its the exact same principal. The cost of the service would go up if it wasn't for these adverts.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

It's not the 'exact same principal' [sic] at all. You paid for the magazine subscription knowing that the accompanying advertisements would be present - we didn't do that with our current Virgin service.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Well make a complaint and cancel.

To be fair I was fully aware that adverts would be on the Discovery Bar on the menu, I was also made fully aware prior to the launch of pause bar ads, and was in fact asked to give feedback on the addition.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

So it is your fault :D

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

These adverts only appear when you pause a show, so don't interfere with your viewing. Genuine question, what is the problem? Is it just the principle?

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

I think it's the principle. You are paying a monthly subscription to Virgin for the TiVo box. You are not expecting in return to have adverts forced onto you.

If Virgin plan to use TiVo to generate revenue from advertisers, they should drop the monthly fee for the box that customers are paying. Just my opinion.

Do Virgin make it clear to new sign up's to TiVo that adverts will be pushed to them? I honestly don't know the answer but would be curious to find out.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

In the same way a pvr such as TiVo allows you to skip adverts on recorded shows, so I certainly don't feel like I have adverts forced on me.

Virgin don't make it clear that they will show these adverts, although I had a TiVo before they started, so that may have changed. I wonder if a better question is, if they did were up front about it, would it actually put anybody off? And how, exactly, should they describe it?

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

For heaven's sake, what are we going to moan about next? Talk about a storm in a teacup!

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

a storm in a pause bar :)

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Maybe Virgin could consider the Spotify approach.

A TiVo service that is heavily laced with adverts but doesn't cost the subscriber anything extra per month. Alternatively pay a monthly subscription for TiVo and get an ad free version.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

How does spotify work - ie. when do you see (hear!) the adverts?

I would imagine a few ads on the pause bar are a clever, unobtrusive, revenue stream, but wouldn't bring enough to allow subscription free TV??

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Here are the methods used by Spotify:

https://www.spotify.com/uk/about-us/...fy-ad-formats/

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Do you also think Sky should give away their ad-infested channels for free?

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Yes, I was far more surprised at the number of ads on the Sky premium channels!

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Maybe not free, but cheaper would be good

---------- Post added at 21:29 ---------- Previous post was at 21:28 ----------

Your easily surprised then :D

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

You’re missing the point. As is mentioned by others, it’s the principle that is annoying.

Without wanting to sound like a stuck record, Virgin are generating revenue from their customers and then exploiting us by further generating money from those advertising with them. It’s a double whammy based purely on greed (unless anyone else can offer a reason for it) that grates.
I’ll ‘moan’ about your irrelevant input into a valid thread if you wish?
These adverts are ‘forced’ on you though aren’t they? Not in a Clockwork Orange ‘pin you down and open your eyes wide’ style, it’s subtly done but you have no choice in the matter.
If they were up front about it then this thread wouldn’t exist and we’d all be carrying along merrily I would imagine – it’s not a deal breaker.

As for describing it, it’s pretty easy to say something along the lines of ‘Whilst viewing TiVo you may be subject to advertisements from some of our chosen partners and/or supporters’ (or something along those lines).

Again, it’s probably already been done and nestling somewhere in the T&C’s anyway.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

They are forced on you, I accept that. My point was more that because it's a pvr I'm now watching a lot fewer adverts than I ever did before I first got Sky + so I don't feel inundated with messages, and as a result I'm perhaps much happier to put up with this opportunism than I might have otherwise been. We're not, as a rule, a nation that has to contend with rampant commercialism - in my opinion, at least. I was watching an episode of Breaking Bad last night and in it two men were sat on a garish bench, the entire back board of which was given over to an advert for a local lawyer. It was eye catching in as much as a bench local to me is more likely to have a little plaque in memory of somebody on it. TiVo is an American system. Perhaps if we were more used to being subjected to advertising this would be less of an issue?

As an aside, Clockwork Orange is an awesome film!

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

From my personal viewpoint, the programme is usually on pause because I am doing something else, and not looking at the screen, so I can't say I have even noticed these ads......

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Yes, it was in the early days of Sky, before I was an old boy!

---------- Post added at 18:52 ---------- Previous post was at 18:48 ----------

I really don't see your point. Four tiny ads are displayed when you press the pause bar, and they disappear again as soon as you press play.

I have absolutely no problem with this, and nor do most people. If it helps to keep subscriber costs down, then good on Virgin.

To be honest, there are adverts almost wherever you look these days, I'm surprised you think this is such a big deal.

I think you should get out more. Try to ignore those adverts on the side of the buses, now. I know they didn't ask you first...:D;)

---------- Post added at 18:56 ---------- Previous post was at 18:52 ----------

Actually I welcome this because I want much more choice in the On Demand system, and without ads on there, they must have difficulty in making this pay.

If the price of getting a much better library of on demand stuff was ads on the index pages and right at the beginning of any video of half an hour or more, I wouldn't complain, frankly.

---------- Post added at 18:56 ---------- Previous post was at 18:56 ----------

Quite!:D

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Andy, whilst I can accept your perspective (and understanding) on the matter, I’m afraid I’m unwilling to accept the fact that Virgin appear to be exploiting its' customer base for their own personal gain. It says a lot about how we as customers are perceived by Virgin if that is the case which is a shame.

And yeah, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is superb :)

My point is plastered all over this thread; if you can't see it then you're not reading my posts properly. It's not about size, placement or whatever else you're trying to conjure up, it's about principle.
So, you believe that Virgin are using the advertiser's revenue to offset any increase in price that the provision of TiVo costs them and subsequently passing that 'saving' onto us? That's somewhat naive I would suggest.
Your vain attempt at garnishing a retort with this remark only serves to diminish your comments - I stopped reading after it.

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Anyone got a picture of these?

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Here's one Lew prepared earlier
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35...-post1283.html

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

[QUOTE=OLD BOY;35608968]Yes, it was in the early days of Sky, before I was an old boy![COLOR="Silver"]

:D

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

Seriously? I've not had experience of this ad yet (now that I exseen the example). I'm more bothered by the ads across the bottom of the currently running program advertising the next programme and interfering with the picture. I'm a stickler for 'principles' and don't see any being violated by a static ad while a programme is paused because you are doing something else temporarily.

If I'd seen it before this thread I can't imagine my reaction being anything more than 'oh that's new' where the intrusive ones during shows irritate the heck out of me

Re: Adverts on the Pause Bar
 

I found the announcement that there was a royal birth splashing across a recording I made annoying

Granted, it is probably pleasing to some people that the royals actually know some way to breed, personally I couldn't care less