One Way To Beat Those Annoying Promos In The Corner Of Your Screen (updated). Well Done Channel Ten.

Promos in the corner of the screen were driving me nuts, but Channel Ten responded rapidly to our complaints.

Not a brilliant solution, but I find it satisfying to not have to see the promos

Update: Talk about the power of Facebook.

When I tuned into Modern Family the night after I put this little story up, I was mightily impressed to see that the promos had gone back to the way I had asked for.

One minute on screen after returning from the ad breaks.

Well done Channel Ten.

I am sure my complaint was part of a wider community voice, but its satisfying all the same to be part of making a difference.

So I hope you all enjoy your shows without over-intrusion from those promos.

Last night I was watching Modern Family when I realized, to my unholy consternation, that those bloody promos were back, in this case they were for this network's reality cooking show.

I loathe and detest this cooking show, it's all about exploiting the people who are silly enough to go on it.

Plus, it's really just a longer-than-an-hour advertisement for a major supermarket.

It's as far from Modern Family on the intelligence stakes as it's possible to be, so seeing promos for it drive me to distraction beyond measure.

Now I'm not saying people can't, or shouldn't watch this cooking show.

Some do and presumably enjoy it.

No, my beef is that the promos for it are on the show that I'm trying to watch and enjoy.

Now I've spoken to the network via Facebook about this before.

I thought we had agreed a compromise that they would only show the promos for a minute after we return from the ad breaks.

But it seems that this previous agreement has been forgotten, and I think I know why.

The network in question, Ten, is on the verge of bankruptcy.

This once popular reality cooking show is returning for the manyeth time, and it is this network's last chance to stay financially solvent.

Thus they had no qualm about sticking up the middle digit to those of us who like Mod Fam, and bunging their fucking annoying promos onto the screen, which makes trying to enjoy the show an exercise on Zen-like concentration that is well beyond most of us.

Now last time, to get rid of these bloody things, I had to threaten this particular network.

I did so by going to the TV ratings website and finding the ratings for the show they were promoing.

In that case it was their reality dance show.

Then I pasted these failure figures up on the network's Facebook Page.

Boy, they didn't like that.

Seems one thing the networks don't like is people pointing out when a show has bombed.

I was delighted beyond measure to discover that this dance reality show had bombed badly, 17th out of twenty shows in its timeslot.

Then I was delighted beyond belief to find that this is what it took to get through to the network.

The very next night the promos, during my show, The Simpsons it was, had gone back to their one-minute-after-the-ad status.

But even then I can't really fathom the network's logic.

The logic seems to be that viewers will watch Mod Fam for twenty eight minutes in annoyance, then suddenly go, "Oh, OK, I will watch the cooking show! So glad the network pushed us."

I tried to explain to Channel Ten that "you have to look cool".

By showing the promos solid for thirty minutes all you do is look desperate, and piss off your loyal viewers of other shows, within which these promos appear.

Anyway, last night I happened across a sort of solution.

I went to make a cup of tea, so pressed "pause" on my remote.

The set top box entered time shift mode and the show froze on my screen.

Then I returned with my cuppa and pressed "play".

As you can see in the picture, the info bar came up on the bottom of the screen and with surgical precision, covered the promo in the bottom right hand corner.

Then the info bar dropped off, so I pressed "info" on my remote and the info bar stayed on the screen for the remainder of the show.

Now I know many of you may say, "But Charlie, isn't the info bar just as obtrusive?"

Well, it is intrusive, but I find I prefer it to the promo.

In my own small minded little way, I get the satisfaction of knowing that I am not watching the promo.

So if like me you fucking loathe those promos, and the networks trying to tell you what to watch, then try the pause-play-info shuffle and enjoy the rest of your show.

Read some of my other rants here at Buzzfeed.

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