Idiosyncrasies of presentation in America

Golden Girls ended in 1992, NBC 2000 started in 1994.
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/03/business/the-media-business-nbc-cancels-the-pause-between-shows.html

Quite surprised the likes of E4 and ITV2 don't play with the ad structure more considering they're allowed two breaks within a 30-minute show. The only show I know to do it is the first look Home and Away on 5Star - not sure if Neighbours repeats do the same as well.

If they don't do that, it's likely because they think it'd because detriment to the viewer, which would result in less revenues and complaints, particularly if instead of the "American approach" - breaks at something like 0:02, 0:19; see ABC1 - they'd go with two breaks at 0:08, 0:16 - here considering a typical 30 mins slot has 21 mins of content.

I've seen that happening on German TV and I find it highly distracting

Here's another thing I've always wondered - why we put our DOGs (or bugs in America) on the top left or right of the screen, which means they often clash with people's heads or other graphics at the top of the screen.

For example I watch DMAX for a few programmes, which is one of the few channels that still has their DOG in the 4:3 safe area, and often people's heads get completely obscured by the logo if, say, they're standing a certain distance away so an overlaid graph can be placed next to them. (As happened when I was watching today)

I believe in America they're usually put in the bottom left or right.

It's because DMAX (UK) is low priority for Discovery, therefore its still stuck with the OSP they'd had for quite a few years now. And nobody really touches it to make tweaks. Until it gets a refresh, then it might change. When I dealt with that channel, the bug position is linked with the IPPs, if you move it then the Broadcast Graphics department would have to modify the template, which might incur an internal cost.

Well, now you're making me feel sad for a TV channel. Do they have one of those schemes where I can give £2 a month to help it get a refresh? And a letter from the controller every month? A TV channel's not just for Christmas.

EDIT: you changed your post, initially you said nobody cares which sounded a bit harsh!

I tried to tidy up and expand a bit. But even the continuity on DMAX is minimal, ECVOs and a Menu only. They dumped voiceovers in idents on the Genre channels (excluding Animal Planet and ID) as a cost-saving and to make it more effective