Ch4 website says this about Ad Breaks :

Will the Film4 free-to-air service carry any advertisements during films?
Yes, like most other free-to-air channels the new Film4 channel will have advertising breaks. We are passionate about films and it is in our interest to show them in the best possible environment, so we will do our utmost to handle advertising breaks as carefully as possible. There will not be an on-screen logo on Film4.

I was trying to watch The Fifth Element Sunday night, but the film was ruined by ad breaks close to 25min intervals. This takes the piss, and is far worse than regular CH4 and ITV1 film transmission.
It shows you couldn't give a toss about films nor film lovers; go the whole hog and have ads at 10min intervals then you can really suck up to your advertisers.

Film lovers should avoid Film4!

I think the only reson the intervals happen is so that they can cut compete scenes out. (mainly violent bloody scenes).

I take your points on board StanleyNTL but i can more than put up with the advert breaks if it means free films.

In addition the breaks sometimes help if you need the toilet or fancy a quick brew/munch.

It begs the question that if the BBC went down the advert route would anyone complain?....I would rather not pay the BBC £100+ per year and suffer adverts.

The only other solution is to buy a DVD recorder that automatically cuts out the ad breaks and then watch them back at your leisure!

I can understand the advertising breaks - a necessary evil. This stuff costs a lot of money remember.

Benny - they're not seriously cutting scenes out, are they?

quote:

Originally posted by Lyris:
I can understand the advertising breaks - a necessary evil. This stuff costs a lot of money remember.

Benny - they're not seriously cutting scenes out, are they?

in some films yeah they are.

I'm an ex-subscriber and tried to watch a film last night. The ad breaks seemed 15 minutes apart, which is the last thing you want during an atmospheric film of the type I've come to expect from F4. I would rather have paid more for the subscription.

I won't be watching F4 again. I've moved it out of my favourite channels.

They've just done my local DVD shop and cinema a huge favour.

The ad breaks aren't as bad as those during 'Lost' on Ch4...but what irked me was after watching the slowly paced thriller 'Dead Man's Shoes' they showed the credits at dexedrine speed so you couldn't read them. Clearly I should just rent through amazon/whoever and/or buy the DVDs of a film like this and cut out the middle broadcaster? I mean, why don't they just show the film at 7 times the speed and drop in adverts for what's on next????

FilmFour R.I.P.

Ad breaks and movies don't fit together on the same screen -- whatever the adbreak interval is. Ruins the flow of a film - obvious really

I've given up on the channel. Would've increased my sub a bit - after all the main Sky sub has kept on increasing.

Ad breaks on ITV/CH4* are tolerable compared to Film4 vision (*roughly every 35-40min during a film).
Every 25 mins on Film4 ruins a film - their statement about handling ad breaks carefully is utter crap.
And frankly I don't think they give a damn.

I'm sorry but no channel that cuts, crops or hacks films up with adverts should call itself a film channel. Film Four will now be consigned to the graveyard where all the other advertising channels have gone as far as I'm concerned. It used to be an oasis in the film desert that is TV but has now reduced itself to the same level. Perhaps they can also stick a news broadcast in the middle of the film as well, just to ensure that it becomes indistiguishable from other channels. Actually, I'll probably not miss much as who wants to bet that the edgy intelligent films, so called, 'art house,' films and the better quality foreign films that used to be part of this channel's output will also soon be a thing of the past. A film channel has to serve its film-loving subscribers, an advertising channel is a slave to the advertisers who have no interest in quality or merit, only in the size of the audience.

Yea come on Film4. You promised good films, I was attracted by the adverts for the channel. I thought great some good films, dont have to subscribe to any over priced £40 per month service provider!.
BUT...
Was watching or at least trying to watch a film the other night, sorry but cant renmember which one it was, but anyway i looked at the times for the film and it was like "3 1/2 hours, its not 3 1/2 hours long !! Sure enough, the film wasnt - but it sure as hell felt like adverts were !!
I can understand the problem, its got to be paid for somehow if its free to air, but F4 have tried charging for the station, which would appear it didnt become that successful, and now - fair enough its free to air, but who has hours to waste nowadays while the film has an extra ??+mins added on the run time due to extended adverts !!!????
I like the channel film4, and i do enjoy the films, BUT for how long?will people appreciate it while there is so much advertisments !!

film 4 WAS my film chanel of choice having subscribed almost from day 1 no more i'm afraid adverts have no place whatsoever in a good film end of also the films you are showing now no longer seem to include the more extreme types you used to show film 4 it's more like itv 4

i like many have freeview and FREE film4 is fine by me!! so if sky is so good with so many movie channls why do u care about film4 going FREE??

Ever noticed how Film Four never answer anything that is a valid criticism.. strange that innit..but don't feel cheated on this because Film Four is now free.. they didn't when it was subscription either

I feel the best solution would be to completely cut ou the ads during the film and have extended ones before and after. Or if that was unworkable cut it down to an ad break and hour, (slightly externded) as well as a ad break at film end and before films

I have no problems with the breaks! The channel is the most watched movie channel in our home. And by far the best of all the FTA movies channels! My only gripe is that it isn't on long enough - but that will probably increase over time...

Well done Film4 for producing a good mix of movies on your excellent channel!

Zone Horror, Zone Thriller, True Movies, and Movies4Men really need to pull up their socks here!

quote:

I feel the best solution would be to completely cut ou the ads during the film and have extended ones before and after. Or if that was unworkable cut it down to an ad break and hour, (slightly externded) as well as a ad break at film end and before films

Well they wouldn't do that because that is not how advertising works is it.
That is an advertisers nightmare! They put the adverts between films so you actually see them. If they put them at the end everyone would go off and do something else till the next film came on, meaning no one would watch the adverts.

I first got Film4 when I joined Telewest in 2001 and kept it for a year but then had so many problems with Telewest I sacked the whole service. I've moved a couple of times and have just got Telewest again (they seem to have sorted themselves out) and was pleased to hear Film Four was free now, but I didn't realise that meant regular advertising breaks... obvious really!

I could probably stand a few breaks in a film, but I have to agree with everyone, they are too regular and very badly placed.

I think the worst offence is the quality of films seems to have lowered... far too many cheezy rom-coms and second rate thrillers/horror for my liking. Though the recent Korean season is great - more of that sort of stuff and good indie/cult films please!

Thought I would add my two cents here, even though Film Four obviously won't take any notice.

The ads are driving me nuts. Completely and utterly nuts. You get into a movie, you start to enjoy it, and in the middle of a big scene you are brutally reminded to buy some extra soft loo roll. I end up shouting at the screen every single time. So much for getting a quality movie time.

I can understand why people who did not subscribe before enjoy having the channel for free. If Sky was offered to me for free I would be happy for the freebie, even though I wouldn't necessarily be that bothered by what they offer. But as a former paying subscriber of Film Four I really got used to watching uninterrupted movies of a much better quality than most of the stuff on Sky (only a matter of opinion, I know). That was why I joined in the first place.

Film Four - how about giving us the choice? Free with ads or paying with no ads. I'd even pay more than I used to.

And please stop calling yourself a channel that loves films. You obviously don't! And don't start me on people yacking about what's on tomorrow over the end credits...

- Rant over -

Does anybody know of another movie channel that offers good stuff with no ads - well, just like Film Four used to be, really...?

I rarely watch any program live but use DVD recorder to cut transmission to proper size before watching it. That doesn't just mean cutting out adverts but also the BBC's host of trailers, 60 seconds etc.

It might take me 5 minutes of editing to achieve the above but on most commerical channels 30 minutes in a 2hr film is adverts and trailers thus I'm gaining around 25 minutes per film!