dagblog - Comments for "CBS, Microsoft: Brilliant NCAA Tournament Silverlight strategy"

Ok, now this is more like it.

Deadman — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:21:17 +0000

In reply to CBS, Microsoft: Brilliant NCAA Tournament Silverlight strategy

Ok, now this is more like it. damn, this tournament never fails. of course, i've got like four pools, so each game i totally dont know who to root for. so ill just keep rooting for these great games - ah, what a sporting event.

one way to get around the

Deadman — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:19:05 +0000

In reply to CBS, Microsoft: Brilliant NCAA Tournament Silverlight strategy

one way to get around the forced ad feature - as any college basketball fan knows, the games stop for ads after the first whistle after every 4 minute interval. as soon as you hear the whistle and before the game goes to commercial, you can switch the game.

Living without television, I

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:39:08 +0000

In reply to CBS, Microsoft: Brilliant NCAA Tournament Silverlight strategy

Living without television, I occasionally watch streaming video from the networks. They usually have a single sponsor for any given show, and every ad break shows just one 30-second spot. You can't skip the commercials, but the total ad time seems to be less than that of watching TV. There's only one problem. IT'S THE SAME DAMN COMMERCIAL OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Often, it's a particulary annoying commercial for a bad comedy, e.g. Chuck or most recently, I Love You Man. And there's no escape. It's like Groundhog Day without the happy ending. Is it really that difficult to have multiple sponsors with different commercials?

Rant aside, a number of advertisers on these shows have been experimenting with interactive ads. Sprint has a snowball fight game. You have to sit there and watch your player get repeatedly pelted by snowballs for 30 seconds or else give in the pressure and interrupt your show to indulge Sprint in a sponsored snowball fight. I managed to fight the urge, but it wasn't easy.

In answer to Ms. Deadman's technical problem, these videos usually offer a full screen mode that adjusts to the size of your screen. But I haven't streamed a show with Silverlight before.