Sorry, does DOG in some way stand for the station ident in the corner of the screen? Because this has been annoying me for sometime, especially on UK Play repeats of Larry Sanders.
If it's Blackadder you're watching, the 0150 repeat has no summer nights of comedy logo. That's if you want to tape it.
>Sorry, does DOG in some way stand for the station ident in the corner of the screen?
Digital Onscreen Graphic.
Will BBC1/BBC2/ITV and C4 ever have DOGs do you reckon? Or would there be too many complaints? ('I don't mind logos on those idiot cable channels, but if you start obscuring proper telly...')
Is it only a matter of time though?
S4C in Wales had DOGs for a little while, as far back as 1992. They were the only blot on my otherwise complete enjoyment of TV Heaven. But luckily, the sheer torrent of protest from viewers meant they got rid of them after a couple of months.
'Eastenders' amongst other terrestrial shows now have that horrid drag-back inset of the closing credits, so as to incorporate a plug for another show. This was once exclusively the domain of satellite/cable.
It'll happen, Mike.
I remember complaining a while back when BBC2 had started using DOGs on the Learning Zone. It sounded like they were getting quite a few calls on the matter, as they told me it was a trial to assess public opinion. So if you spot any appearing it's best to make a fuss!
Anyone remember the experiment with FRV on 'Casualty' in 1995? Lasted the first three episodes of the series ('Blood's Thicker' being the first) only for Points of View, RT et al to be flooded with complaints. When the repeats came around in 1996 they were shown in their original VT form, rather meekly.
Fast-forward to now and FRV is commonplace. Looks like someone high up has misread the Reithian edict of giving people "what they didn't know they wanted".
Bent is right in saying it's only a matter of time until we are faced with DOGs on terrestrial channels. In fact, I consider it to be only a matter of time before we have scrolling captions running through Channel 4 News announcing "Ibiza Uncut 23:20 Tonite"*. It's all part of the lazy attitude to broadcasting that has also brought us babbled-over credits, trailers for other programmes run next to closing credits, trailers for Ground Force run after Attention Scum at a million o'clock in the morning and so on. You can see this as the broadcasters' way of letting their audience know what else is on, or else pandering to laziness in society, or even a more sinister undertone that is apparently saying 'hey you, stop watching minority programming, there's some of us who want to watch *real* stuff out here' etc. The choice is yours.
*For anyone who's about to start crying and go on about me being on my Channel 4-hating high horse again, this argument applies to all channels as far as I'm concerned. It's just that this was the most immediate example to spring to mind.