ESPN not allowed to show more than 30 second highlights.

[superboyac]

I've often wondered lately why ESPN rushes through the highlights so fast.  Not surprisingly, I get irritated because I'd like to soak in some of these highlights but they go through them so fast, you get no real sense of what actually happened.  So, knowing what I know, I was convinced that this MUST be a licensing thing where they are simplay not allowed to show more than a set number of seconds of highlights from each game.  So I launched tranglos' eStopwatch and started timing them.  yup.  They are all exactly 30 seconds long.  I tried looking up on google an article or information indicating that the NFL/NBA only allows 30 second highlights, but i couldn't find anything.  But I'm 99% sure that this is true.  Anyway, now you know.  Nothing terribly interesting, i suppose.

The interesting part to me is once again, they restrict this stuff to the point where the end user starts feeling a little bit shafted, whether they realize it or not.  All of this inquiry started from the fact that I've been watching the highlights lately and wondering why they go so fast from one major highlight to the next.  I mean, geez, let me enjoy that game winning touchdown for a few seconds!  Man.  Must we suck the enjoyment out of everything??

Oh yeah...and they wonder why people would download torrents of the games.  Is it to do something horrible and criminal with it?  No!  Just to enjoy a fucking touchdown pass from your favorite player or team, and be able to relish it.  Play it back.  Soak it in.  Hear the audience roar.  Watch the players celebrate.  Watch your rival sulk away.  i mean, cmon.  We have all this technology, and instead of being able to enjoy things like this, we are restricting it so much, we might as well NOT have it.

[Renegade]

Must we suck the enjoyment out of everything??

It's not about sucking out the fun. That's just a by-product. It's about sucking out every single last penny. If they could, they'd have counters in your eyeballs to make you pay for every second that you watched (or missed).

Cynicism

I just can't sympathize with you though. Professional sports aren't so much sports as they are entertainment. They're voyeuristic. They're businesses. Nothing more. I've lost all respect for them. Their primary goal is to suck as much money out of their fans as possible. Wow. Nice. It's an industry that has spun far out of control.

But you know what? I think the cities should be suing the professional sporting teams. And they should be suing ESPN as well. (hehehe -- I do have a little demonic logic for this one here. )

e.g. The "Denver" Broncos.

WHAT!?! They've misappropriated the name of the city and are using it for profit! If they're going to use the good name of the city, they should return a portion to its public.

Seriously. Cities should trademark their names and charge teams to use them. It happens everywhere else. These guys are getting a free ride!!!

(I would SOOOOO laugh to see that happen~!)

[zridling]

Good points. I think that all professional games played in ANY arena, stadium, ballpark, etc. funded in any part by taxpayer dollars should never be blacked out. Ever. No pay-per-view either. If the billionaires want to build their own stadiums for their own teams, then fine. Otherwise, if I were the county, I'd lock them out of OUR stadium so they couldn't play THEIR game that day!
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Same sentiment for anything really, SuperboyAC. I've noticed that many YouTube music video "pre-view" have creeped from 10 second to 15 second ads in the last couple of months. I can't watch any sport live anymore because of the endless ads. If I can't tape it, I find something else.

[Renegade]

I think a lot of the teams are paying for the use of the stadiums though. If they rent it, they they've rented it. I suppose that they get to do what they want then.

Same would go for music concerts too. Hard to discriminate between the two in those terms.