Kill the locals

The downside of TiVo is that it relies on pre-published, nationwide data as input, but actual programming is often up to the whims of local affiliates for the big networks. Sunday I was twice disappointed by my local networks.

Instead of showing the defending world champion US women's soccer team play their (winning) opening game, my local ABC station played 2.5 hours of skin care infomercials that got recorded. Yep, instead of playing a worldwide sporting event, "shows" that normally occupy the 2am-6am slot were played on a Sunday morning. I don't understand the reasoning for this, the station can't possibly make much money from infomercials, and the national feed of the game was like three hours of free content ready to go. In the afternoon, instead of seeing the NBC X games knockoff Gravity Games, my local affiliate played NASCAR. I can see the reasons behind this one, as the locals here would definitely go for NASCAR over skateboarding, but it was still disappointing to sit down for an exciting evening of TiVo'd sporting events and end up empty handed.

I can't wait to lose the local cable and go back to DirecTV's national stations.