IFC (Independent Film Channel) is my favorite cable TV channel. No, it WAS. Now, it's one of my least favorite cable TV channels because they're breaking up their movies with fucking commercial breaks.
Great idea, huh?
They have the nerve to call it "The New IFC" when it's become "The Shitty IFC".
Some Clever Clogs at the network (probably some dickwad bean counter) came up with a smart idea to make the station better for the owners and worse for the viewers/subscribers.
It's a terrific way to alienate subscribers (who are already fleeing in droves!) and force them to write bitter blog posts about the station that was once a diamond in the cable rough.
My next step will be canceling IFC and, while I'm at it, I'll probably give Sundance the ass, too, because they've also started showing commercials.
Initially, the whole point of cable was that you didn't have to put up with commercials because you were paying the TV station NOT to show them. Free TV was free because commercials paid for it. Fine. But Pay TV was Pay TV because, well, WE paid for it -- that distinguished it from the free variety.
Well, the greedy suits who run the cable giants are now having it both ways -- they charge for their channels AND fill their shows with commercials. The result will be subscribers canceling and fleeing en masse to other alternatives
I can see IFC and Sundance becoming about as much fun as AMC was before it got into original series production. They began life showing movies without commercials -- then they dirtied their drawers with them. But AMC was a little different because you didn't pay extra to receive them. Now they show very decent original programming such as Mad Men and they're still not an upper tier network that you pay extra for. Which is as it should be.
The last hold-out is TCM (Turner Classic Movies), easily the best thing on cable. They have no
commercials, they show stuff in its correct aspect ratio, and you sense that they have some respect for their subscribers.
Let me pose a hypothetical...
If you were IFC and you were being threatened with new alternatives such as Netflix, the torrents, Redbox, and a hundred other options, would you try fucking your Golden Goose in the ass while it's manifesting pre-death throes?
Well?
Wouldn't it be better to help the poor creature up, plop it in a wheelchair, and pretty up its sagging features with some nail polish, lip gloss, and an approach to its condition that will make it a healthier being?
Well, IFC chose the assfucking instead of the wheelchair. Yep, they added commercials to a network that is supported by film purists.
"Let's call it The New IFC and add commercial breaks!" they roared.
Geniuses, huh?! Fucking geniuses!!!
Yeah, "off" like month-old milk.
