8 ms·

PBS has underwriting spots that are only shown between programs and are subject to more restrictions than commercials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwritin

PBS has underwriting spots that are only shown between programs and are subject to more restrictions than commercials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwriting_spot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwriting_spot No programming is interrupted, and the only marketing content is typically something like "Brand Flakes is happy to support PBS".

jklinger410 9y ago
They are commercials.
- sushisource 9y ago
  What? Care to back up your claim at all instead of just traipsing in and saying "no"? I watch PBS every day and they are most certainly not commercials as your parent comment says. They generally are 10 seconds at most, have maybe two sentences about the company, and show the logo. Usually one of those sentences is "Company xxx is proud to support PBS".
  - massysett 9y ago
    Dictionary.com says a commercial is "a paid advertisement or promotional announcement." Companies pay PBS, they get an announcement promoting the company. It's a commercial. If Company xxx just wanted to do great things, it could easily give money and seek no acknowledgement (the same way that, ahem, viewers give money and get no on-air acknowledgement, not even a flash in crawling text.) But Company xxx wants to be acknowledged. No problem. But it's a commercial.
    - doktrin 9y ago
      This honestly feels like unnecessary pedantry
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - tasty_freeze 9y ago
      You are missing the point and needlessly tripping yourself up on nitpicking. The point of the piece is that PBS delivers a lot of quality content to children (lots of other content too, but that isn't the author's focus). A couple minutes per hour of "Brought to you by XYZ Corporation" vs 20 cumulative minutes of animated bunnies selling breakfast marshmallows aimed at 2-7 year olds is not the same thing. You can hide behind your dictionary definition and declare yourself the victor, but you must know there is a substantive difference between them and that is exactly the point that author was making.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
  - fullshark 9y ago
    How is that not a commercial? Just because it's not actively annoying?
    - koenigdavidmj 9y ago
      We can deliberate over the meanings of terms all day, but there is a distinction. The PBS commercials are just "this company supports PBS"; it doesn't even mention the industry the company works in. Commercials elsewhere are "this company makes this product, which does this task that will make you happy and/or surround you with beautiful women".
      - fullshark 9y ago
        Do you think these companies would keep giving PBS money if they stopped reporting who was giving it before/after each show? Also your claim isn't even true, I recall an ad for a European Boat Touring company before Rick Steve's Europe for example. The ad was clearly "this company sells this product." It's all just another form of lifestyle ad / virtue signaling. "We support PBS and the things you care about, support us too."
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - BeetleB 9y ago
    >They generally are 10 seconds at most, have maybe two sentences about the company, and show the logo. aka a commercial.
    - enraged_camel 9y ago
      ad·ver·tise·ment ˈadvərˌtīzmənt,ədˈvərdizmənt/ noun a notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, service, or event or publicizing a job vacancy. --- As long as said 10-second intervals don't promote a product, service or event, and they simply mention that Company X supports PBS, they aren't advertisements. https://www.google.com/search?&rls=en&q=define:advertisement&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?&rls=en&q=define:advertisement...
      - maxerickson 9y ago
        It's relatively tasteful advertisement: https://vimeo.com/41440389 https://vimeo.com/41440389
- namuol 9y ago
  I implore you to spend an hour consuming public media and then another hour consuming "regular" commercial broadcasting. There's an unmistakable difference between the commercials employed in commercial broadcasts vs public broadcasts. I'm sure you can find some reduction of the concept of "commercial" that fits both commercial broadcast advertisements and underwriting posts in public broadcasts, but you'd be missing the point. Furthermore, the discussion here isn't merely about the ads themselves; it's about the _underlying business model_ of commercial network broadcasting vs public broadcasting. Commercial networks' incentives are squarely in line with the incentives of their advertisers, but publicly-funded broadcasters incentives are more in line with their users, because their funding is derived most directly from them.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
    - FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago
      Have you tried any of PBS Digital Studio Channels on Youtube?
Uhhrrr 9y ago
In the Bay Area, at least, shows will have multiple supporter mentions which are basically brand endorsements, a la, "Brought to you by ADM, Supermarket to the World! And GE, bringing good things to life."

jklinger410 9y ago

They are commercials.

sushisource 9y ago
What? Care to back up your claim at all instead of just traipsing in and saying "no"? I watch PBS every day and they are most certainly not commercials as your parent comment says. They generally are 10 seconds at most, have maybe two sentences about the company, and show the logo. Usually one of those sentences is "Company xxx is proud to support PBS".
- massysett 9y ago
  Dictionary.com says a commercial is "a paid advertisement or promotional announcement." Companies pay PBS, they get an announcement promoting the company. It's a commercial. If Company xxx just wanted to do great things, it could easily give money and seek no acknowledgement (the same way that, ahem, viewers give money and get no on-air acknowledgement, not even a flash in crawling text.) But Company xxx wants to be acknowledged. No problem. But it's a commercial.
  - doktrin 9y ago
    This honestly feels like unnecessary pedantry
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - tasty_freeze 9y ago
    You are missing the point and needlessly tripping yourself up on nitpicking. The point of the piece is that PBS delivers a lot of quality content to children (lots of other content too, but that isn't the author's focus). A couple minutes per hour of "Brought to you by XYZ Corporation" vs 20 cumulative minutes of animated bunnies selling breakfast marshmallows aimed at 2-7 year olds is not the same thing. You can hide behind your dictionary definition and declare yourself the victor, but you must know there is a substantive difference between them and that is exactly the point that author was making.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- fullshark 9y ago
  How is that not a commercial? Just because it's not actively annoying?
  - koenigdavidmj 9y ago
    We can deliberate over the meanings of terms all day, but there is a distinction. The PBS commercials are just "this company supports PBS"; it doesn't even mention the industry the company works in. Commercials elsewhere are "this company makes this product, which does this task that will make you happy and/or surround you with beautiful women".
    - fullshark 9y ago
      Do you think these companies would keep giving PBS money if they stopped reporting who was giving it before/after each show? Also your claim isn't even true, I recall an ad for a European Boat Touring company before Rick Steve's Europe for example. The ad was clearly "this company sells this product." It's all just another form of lifestyle ad / virtue signaling. "We support PBS and the things you care about, support us too."
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- BeetleB 9y ago
  >They generally are 10 seconds at most, have maybe two sentences about the company, and show the logo. aka a commercial.
  - enraged_camel 9y ago
    ad·ver·tise·ment ˈadvərˌtīzmənt,ədˈvərdizmənt/ noun a notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, service, or event or publicizing a job vacancy. --- As long as said 10-second intervals don't promote a product, service or event, and they simply mention that Company X supports PBS, they aren't advertisements. https://www.google.com/search?&rls=en&q=define:advertisement&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?&rls=en&q=define:advertisement...
    - maxerickson 9y ago
      It's relatively tasteful advertisement: https://vimeo.com/41440389 https://vimeo.com/41440389
namuol 9y ago
I implore you to spend an hour consuming public media and then another hour consuming "regular" commercial broadcasting. There's an unmistakable difference between the commercials employed in commercial broadcasts vs public broadcasts. I'm sure you can find some reduction of the concept of "commercial" that fits both commercial broadcast advertisements and underwriting posts in public broadcasts, but you'd be missing the point. Furthermore, the discussion here isn't merely about the ads themselves; it's about the _underlying business model_ of commercial network broadcasting vs public broadcasting. Commercial networks' incentives are squarely in line with the incentives of their advertisers, but publicly-funded broadcasters incentives are more in line with their users, because their funding is derived most directly from them.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
  - FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago
    Have you tried any of PBS Digital Studio Channels on Youtube?

Uhhrrr 9y ago

In the Bay Area, at least, shows will have multiple supporter mentions which are basically brand endorsements, a la, "Brought to you by ADM, Supermarket to the World! And GE, bringing good things to life."