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Channel 4

(May 2008)

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JF
JamesyFish
Is it just me or has channel 4 just gone down in the middle of simpsons?
CD
cdd
Yep! It came back on for the C4 Trail with no apology/announcement.
JF
JamesyFish
cdd posted:
Yep! It came back on for the C4 Trail with no apology/announcement.


Yes, just the one advert, for a C4 advert
CD
cdd
goldfish97 posted:
cdd posted:
Yep! It came back on for the C4 Trail with no apology/announcement.


Yes, just the one advert, for a C4 advert

Well it shows it wasn’t a “technical” fault in the normal sense, since it went dark after the break bumper ended and returned at the very start of the next trail. In which case, I’m surprised nobody at C4 noticed and reloaded the ads in time! Still, I don’t object to the trend!
CD
cdd
And the man just apologised for the techincal problems. Which was totally unnecessary... it's fine, carry on!
RJ
RJH Glover
I was watching Channel 4 too when it went off air (6.17pm). The first half of the Simpsons ended, then went down, checked the analogue signal aswell. Was down for about 3 minutes then one advert and the second half of the Simpsons. Did anyone watch Channel 4 +1 an hour later, I guess Channel 4 +1 is just the Channel 4 feed shown one hour later so did the same thing happen on this, just because of what happened live?
DC
DrCheese
Quote:
, I guess Channel 4 +1 is just the Channel 4 feed shown one hour later so did the same thing happen on this, just because of what happened live?


Yup, I watch the simpsons at 7pm usually (The only time I use a +1 channel!) and the same happened on that. One of my many pet hates of +1 channel's is that they don't fix any errors that happen or update the continuity.
IS
Inspector Sands
DrCheese posted:
Yup, I watch the simpsons at 7pm usually (The only time I use a +1 channel!) and the same happened on that. One of my many pet hates of +1 channel's is that they don't fix any errors that happen or update the continuity.


That would be too much work to make them worth their while. The beauty of them is that they need no manual intervention
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
Inspector Sands posted:
DrCheese posted:
Yup, I watch the simpsons at 7pm usually (The only time I use a +1 channel!) and the same happened on that. One of my many pet hates of +1 channel's is that they don't fix any errors that happen or update the continuity.


That would be too much work to make them worth their while. The beauty of them is that they need no manual intervention


Apart from when they fall over or circumstances occur that require intervention. Which I've seen happen on occasion. When Viacom had a power cut a while back it knocked out all their channels (obviously) and IIRC it took a while to get the timeshifts and automated systems running again and they were the last to return

Now ITV2 has been slated by Ofcom for a string of failures over its timeshift channel's inability to cover itself up when repeating quiz TV programming, we'll probably see a lot of patronising dialogue now along the lines of:

Quote:
Get in touch with us now on <telephone number>, if you're watching us on Channel 4 + 1, please don't call, lines are now closed, you may still be charged.


Sad as it may seem, it seems to justify the need to have big +1 dogs everywhere. Apparently some lady phoned up Make Your Play on ITV2+1 and couldn't get through. Hmm, I wonder why.
CO
Connews
Lovely how such channels like Five US + 1 get away with this laughing... this'll happen on loads of channels on the SKY EPG, loads.
BR
Brekkie
Neil Jones posted:
Quote:
Get in touch with us now on <telephone number>, if you're watching us on Channel 4 + 1, please don't call, lines are now closed, you may still be charged.
.


Thankfully so far C4 have kept it to a brief "Not available on C4+1", which I think is much more straight to the point and clear cut than the waffle some other services use.
DE
deejay
Inspector Sands posted:
DrCheese posted:
Yup, I watch the simpsons at 7pm usually (The only time I use a +1 channel!) and the same happened on that. One of my many pet hates of +1 channel's is that they don't fix any errors that happen or update the continuity.


That would be too much work to make them worth their while. The beauty of them is that they need no manual intervention


The +1 channels are generally a simple delayed playout of the output of the parent channel. That is to say that Channel 4's output gets recorded into a server and is played out from that server 1 hour later. There's generally nothing else involved except perhaps a second dog generator to add a "+1" caption. If there are rights issues with repeating programmes an hour later, then some form of switcher may be put into the chain too, so that output can be replaced by a caption (like on ITV3+1 when they don't have rights to show things more than once).

In general though, what goes out on the main channel, goes out an hour later on the +1. Warts and all.

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