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Comments on news posted 2009-08-13 08:48:13: Users in our U-Verse forum (also see thread here) complain that AT&T has begun inundating TV viewers with new pop up advertisements. ..

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baineschile
2600 ways to live
Premium Member
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI

1 recommendation

baineschile

Premium Member

Amazing

I am not looking forward to see how advertisers shows more crap down our throats that we neither want nor need.

I am just hoping that whatever the future of media watching is, its controlled more by the user than the advertisers.
bhimebaugh
join:2009-08-12
Canton, OH

bhimebaugh

Member

Inevitable?

It is only inevitable if people accept it and do not complain. It is like everything else, if people accept it and become passive over something, sure it will happen.

However if people stand up for what they want in a service they are /paying for/ then it can be stopped.

Between the thread you refer to, plus another thread I started earlier you can already see there are people who are quite unhappy about this.

If AT&T does not stop these ads, or at least give people a way to opt-out of them or keep them turned off and then people begin canceling their service due to this, I guarantee you they will get the hint and stop them (or give an opt-out ability).
zed2608
Premium Member
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN

2 edits

zed2608

Premium Member

at&t is going crazy here
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Careful, AT&T

U-Verse is just getting launched here, and I have been asked quite a few times if this or that person should switch to them from Comcast. Up until now, I've been giving a pretty measured response by stating that it depends on how much they want to pay vs. the number of channels they want, especially HD channels. Now, this development makes my response much easier. "As bad as Comcast is, at least they don't bombard you with pop-up ads in the middle of a show. Stick with them or get satellite."

So if anyone from AT&T is reading this, be careful. In many markets, U-Verse is the new competitor to the incumbent cable system. And if they want to remain in second place, they can keep pulling stunts like this.
grouchy951
join:2000-09-23
Chicago, IL

grouchy951

Member

I would cancel and return my equipment

My cancellation would take the form of sending the U-Verse equipment through an AT&T executives window. Note would be attached saying unconventional irritating commercials prompted my similar cancellation method.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

business models

The cable TV service is free because of the ad space that is given to the cable TV company by the channel owners. Your just a sucker for paying for it. Same with a magazine such as Time or Newsweek, the magazine makes all of its money from the advertisers, the $4 you pay at the newsstand just goes straight to the newsstand owner, how do you think you can get a 1 year subscription for $15 a year? Same with a newspaper, the newspaper is nearly free, what it costs at retail is just pays the stores rent. The newspaper/Cable TV company should be paying YOU to watch them, because you are $ in terms of impressions.

This is all sneaky business model, I once saw an ad for a $100K house, land not included, guess which real estate developer just got a free (or profitable demolition)!

Another famous example is a fortune 500 supermarkets. They rent shelf space to the vendor on a per month basis, then they apply a tax to anything the vendor sells in the store. Profit from your upstream, profit from you downstream, the american way to be a capitalist.

"you pay me to crush your car or get rid of your scrap metal/recycling metal cans, you need to get rid of it, and you have no other choice, so I will make profit from taking the scrap metal from you, and then make a profit selling the scrap metal I got for negative free on the wholesale market"

And this is why we need Tru2Way, but AFAIK, Tru2Way uses Java and complete control of the GUI of the client device, so even with Tru2Way, you will still see pop up ads. 2 way cable card with XML IPG/VOD supplied data should be the proper way to wrestle control from the barons of capitalism.

gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

gigahurtz to grouchy951

Premium Member

to grouchy951

Re: I would cancel and return my equipment

said by grouchy951:

My cancellation would take the form of sending the U-Verse equipment through an AT&T executives window. Note would be attached saying unconventional irritating commercials prompted my similar cancellation method.
Yes, I'm sure you will go through all of this just because of some lousy popups every so often.

While I admit these probably aren't the best, they are most likely similar to what TBS does to advertise there new series. As long as it's not often, I'm sure it's not that bad.
Goldman
join:2002-06-21
Maumelle, AR

Goldman

Member

I got the ad

I called immediately and they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about. I've only been with the service for a few weeks and it works well at my house, but the popup ads have to go or I will not be with them long.
------------------------

From AT&T's High Speed Internet - Safety and Security webpage:AT&T U-verse Safety and Security
AT&T High Speed Internet offers powerful online protection:

* Anti-Virus software to automatically scan and clean e-mail attachments...
* Anti-Spy to detect and remove adware and spyware...
* SpamGuard Plus to separate unsolicited junk email from genuine messages.
* AddressGuard™ uses Disposable E-mail Addresses (DEA) to protect your privacy and protect ...
* Pop-Up Blocker to prevent annoying pop-up ads.
* Parental Controls to let you control ...

--------------------

Kind of ironic they brag about blocking internet popups and serve them up on the TV side.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

DVRicide

First usage of DVRicide. Making DVR recording impossible. That message will pop up randomly during you recording and stay on the recording to the end of it, since there was no human to manually clear it with the remote. Finally TV broadcasters figured out how to kill the evil DVR.

gdm
MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL

gdm to gigahurtz

MVM

to gigahurtz

Re: I would cancel and return my equipment

It is when you have to hit dismiss in order to watch the TV. It affects all TV's. So if your watching one TV and the next day you turn on a TV in another room the pop up is the first thing you will see on that TV.

It'd make more sense to do what comcast does and have a message box like the wii. You go to that area to read the message not pop up on the screen.

As its been stated it's not even targeting the correct people. It's just a massive ad campaign.

U-Verse has other things to focus on then stupid pop ups IMO.
bhimebaugh
join:2009-08-12
Canton, OH

bhimebaugh to zed2608

Member

to zed2608

Re: Inevitable?

Can you provide the e-mail address of the AT&T CEO you talked to so we can e-mail him our thoughts?

Or at minimum tell him to go to dslreports.com and read the posts so he can see how angry it is making people.

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU to baineschile

Member

to baineschile

Re: Amazing

The alternative, of course, is just taking whatever amount of money that broadcasters get from advertising, and charging viewers for viewing. Given that the requirement for cash outlays to view programming will probably slash viewership, you'd probably have to gross up the amount charged. How much? How much do DVDs cost when first released? Figure about that much... perhaps divided by the number of episodes, for each episode, if sold episode-by-episode. Or (unremarkably) just about what Amazon Unbox currently charges.

SLD
Premium Member
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

SLD

Premium Member

Can you cancel?

Is this enough of an offense to cancel a contract legally?

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU to bhimebaugh

Member

to bhimebaugh

Re: Inevitable?

It is inevitable anyway. Even Karl acknowledge that complaining just will, "help shape this new landscape of advertising" -- no reasonable person believes that complaints will obviate it.
bUU

bUU to grouchy951

Member

to grouchy951

Re: I would cancel and return my equipment

That's really the only way consumers can communicate that they are serious about their complaints: Do without the service. If you're complaining but still paying, then your complaints are pretty much just a lot of hot air.
bUU

bUU to patcat88

Member

to patcat88

Re: business models

Your understanding of tru2way is completely backwards: It provides the ability for the service provider to impose their UI on your box.
bUU

bUU to Goldman

Member

to Goldman

Re: I got the ad

It's not uncommon. TiVo also is in the business of helping folks bypass the advertising other folks direct their way, but then turns around and presents advertising themselves.

The thing a lot of people seem to ignore is that all that matters is value: Consumers are going to pay whatever something is worth to them (on average), whether that payment is in the form of viewing advertising or cash outlay. Complaining about one or the other is inane. It just noise. There is no free lunch. While we'd all love to get everything we want cheap and how we want it, that's unreasonable. So we'll play this game of cat and mouse with service providers, trying to dodge reality.

baineschile
2600 ways to live
Premium Member
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI

1 recommendation

baineschile to bUU

Premium Member

to bUU

Re: Amazing

I would rather pay a higher cost for TV service and have no ads, then have to deal with commercials/popups.

Even the stations own advertising (at the bottom of the screen) is insanly annoying.

Lets look at a football game. The game is sponsored by GM. The kickoff is sponsored by ATT. The commercial timeout is sponsored by Edward Jones. The starting lineup roll call is sponsored by Mcdonalds. The halftime show is sponsored is sposored by Staples. The "slow-mo" review is sponsored by Comcast. If an advertiser can get in,they will. I am waiting for the day where sports stars wear ads on their uniforms (sorry Nascar fans, auto-racing isnt a sport)

Its ludacris that even when watching LIVE tv, ads are shoved down our throat
zed2608
Premium Member
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN

2 edits

zed2608 to bhimebaugh

Premium Member

to bhimebaugh

Re: Inevitable?

»dont like the popup ads email the ceo

tidovideo
@fibercloud.net

tidovideo to patcat88

Anon

to patcat88

Re: DVRicide

Does the popup get recorded?

It shouldn't, the popup should be just on the screen, not in the video streem.

Tel
join:2001-10-12
Mauldin, SC

Tel to SLD

Member

to SLD

Re: Can you cancel?

said by SLD:

Is this enough of an offense to cancel a contract legally?
Do you have a contract for U-verse?

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU to baineschile

Member

to baineschile

Re: Amazing

said by baineschile:

I would rather pay a higher cost for TV service and have no ads, then have to deal with commercials/popups.
Me too, but unfortunately we live in a society with other people and we don't each one of us get to dictate to the rest how things are going to be. It's called the "mass" market because economies of scale are used to keep prices reasonable, but that also means that what is offered is a influenced by what everyone wants, with no one getting what they individually want, specifically.

brett_
Premium Member
join:2000-07-22
Lombard, IL

brett_

Premium Member

AT&T Pop-Ups = Annoying, but not that big of deal

I saw this last night and thought "WTF," and then dismissed it. A bit irritating, but no big deal as long as AT&T doesn't get carried away.

I was a lot more annoyed when Comcast started putting ads that you had to scroll through in the program guide.

anonuser1234
@solidspace.com

anonuser1234

Anon

I'd cancel

that pop-up over the image is horrible, it's disruptive to whatever your watching, I would cancel U-verse if I had it.
I'd much rather go back to TV without being able to skip normal commercials than this.

SLD
Premium Member
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

SLD to Tel

Premium Member

to Tel

Re: Can you cancel?

I don't, that is why I was asking.

Tel
join:2001-10-12
Mauldin, SC

Tel

Member

said by SLD:

I don't, that is why I was asking.
I guess it would be moot for U-verse since they don't require a contract but I would think it would depend on the TOS. I can almost guarantee that if U-verse had a contract, then they would have something pertaining to that in there.
old_wiz_60
join:2005-06-03
Bedford, MA

old_wiz_60

Member

just picture this....

You're watching your favorite football game.
It's a hot play, and the quarterback is running through a broken field towards the goal line with less than a minute to play.
20 yards from the goal line...
Interrupt! - an aT&T commercial pops up, covering the screen, blasting loud rock music, and urging you to buy more services from AT&T.
The commercial lasts 60 seconds.
End of commercial.
The game broadcast just switched to a broadcast commercial.

Wouldn't that be fun!
WhatNow
Premium Member
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC

WhatNow

Premium Member

Protect the Brand

Companies give a lot of lip service to building a Brand a stunt like this kills millions of $$ that have been spent on that effort.
Call both AT&T and Domino Corporate offices and express your displeasure. Call and threaten to cancel service if the retention department hears gets enough call it will get upstairs as not profitable.
eqshadimar
Premium Member
join:2004-10-20
Austin, TX

eqshadimar

Premium Member

Who is getting the money?

So AT&T is placing ads over TV shows that show ads which fund the production and broadcast of the TV show. AT&T charges its users for the privilege of getting U-Verse. So it seems like everyone is already getting paid.

Why the extra ads and who is getting the money? If that money is going to AT&T and not the production companies then they should be giving all the U-Verse subs a discount on their bill.

Laters,
Jeff
LineNoise
join:2006-06-25
Downers Grove, IL
(Software) pfSense

LineNoise to bUU

Member

to bUU

Re: Amazing

The cost would never be passed off to the consumer, this is pure greed. They do it because they can. Just wait til we see usage based advertising on the TV. You're watching House and you get 20 pop-ups for Greys Anatomy. It WILL happen and the company to bring it to you, at&t.
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