Agreed, it's not quite "Annoyed from Tunbridge Wells" territory, but tonight I complained officially to the BBC.
 
I fully expect immediate action, heads to roll, and for Barry Took to devote a whole episode of Points Of View to my grievance.
 
No doubt the Director General himself will be on the blower before sun-up to offer his apologies.
 
Anyway, here's the message I sent, just to show you what a sad, miserable old curmudgeon I've become
 
=============================================
Hello there
 
My gripe is nothing really serious, but it seems to be occurring more and more of late, and is becoming quite a nuisance. Essentially, my complaint concerns why so many of your programmes fail to run to the times advertised.
 
Not only does this mean that some programmes that shouldn't overlap actually end up doing so, but it also means there are occasions when shows I've recorded using the Electronic Programme Guide  on my receiver are often missing either the start, or more often, and probably worse, the end.
 
My viewing habits only really revolve about BBC programming, so I can't say if this problem is prevalent among other networks.
 
What prompted me to complain this evening is because of a typical situation that occurred within the last half hour. I was watching the excellent documentary about Crash Test Dummies on BBC4 and had planned to switch over when it finished to BBC1 (as usual) to watch the 10 o'clock news.
 
As always, the news started exactly at 10pm, but the documentary I was watching didn't actually finish until around  a minute past ten.
 
As I said, this is a minor annoyance, but I fail to understand why, in this day and age, programmes cannot be broadcast so they start and finish at the times advertised in the schedules.
 
It happens so often, that I can only assume it's deliberate, and not the result of simple laziness or mismanagement.
 
Please be good enough to enlighten me on the reasons for these ever-increasing timing errors.
 
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Are you using Greenwich or USNO Master Clock for your reference?

I agree Steve and it is also bad here in Australia but only on certain channels. When I used to work in TV stations many many years ago running programs on time was a MAJOR priority and heads would roll even of things were 1 minute late.
 
Channel Seven here can be anything upwards of 15/20 minutes behind and it is a pain. Channel 9 can be bad too but others are much more on top of this for some reason. It may mean they are trying to fit as much advertising as they can in and they keep on taking on more and more when they really should say bugger off once the limit is reached but when money is involved anything goes.
 
I have got a whiz bang recorder thingy too and after doing some research I found out on mine anyway you can extend the shut off times by editing. Use the guide to make the selection but then go in and edit end times. You will find you can in most cases, it is just not obvious that is all. The only issue with mine is that if I do edit the end time the program ends up with no name instead of its correct name. No biggie as you can edit that after the event too.

What's a "programme" anyway?  Is it like a narcissistic program?

Yup, that's definitely crotchety old fart with little else to do territory that you've gone into there mate. ;)

Think he's too old now to down a couple jars and chat up a few birds too?

Over here they usually only do that sort of thing to manipulate you to not change channels. Or on HBO, where programs end when the creators decide they should be over, which is in fact a good thing.
 
But I would say your real problem is that your "Electronic Programme Guide" doesn't know when the programs start/end.
 
Oh, and this thread started too early so I missed the beginning. 

Crash Test Dummies were once my fav group. I loved the first two albums. Especially the first.
 
My (then, now ex-)wife and I ran into them in the Chicago airport a few months after the 2nd CD came out. I did not want to bother them but she took their 2nd CD and had them sign it for me. I still have it. IIRC one of the members was not there (in the loo?) so it's not a complete autographed copy.

mike_mccue
Are you using Greenwich or USNO Master Clock for your reference?

Quartz Crystal Spring Reverb mechanism I'd assume.

craigb
What's a "programme" anyway?  Is it like a narcissistuic prougraum?

UK'd.