UPDATE: You should check out http://www.killcomcastads.com For the latest information, and to sign a petition against this policy.
Just when I thought I had finally put behind me my painful history with Comcast and their annoying business practices (over scheduling their installers, over estimating their network speeds in marketing, and slyly changing cable rates without notice), they did it again.
A few months ago a friend from another Comcast market alerted me to the fact that his on-screen guide was displaying banner ads along the bottom of the screen (displayed to the right). A few weeks later, apparently after many angry customers in his market complained, the ads were removed. I figured I was safe from a similar treatment, but then I turned my TV on today.
Apparently my market is not the only one. I called tonight to complain, and was read a terse statement about the purpose of the ads, and the schedule by which they will be introduced to the Washington DC market as well as the surrounding Maryland and Virginia counties. The statement also mentioned there is no way they can be removed on a per-unit basis.
I understand that Comcast may feel the need to raise additional money from their customers, but this isn’t the way to do it. First, they can’t be making that much money from the ads displayed right now, which advertise Comcast features and upcoming shows. Further, advertising works best when people don’t notice it, because then they don’t actively resist it. These banner ads are anything but subtle, because, as shown in the picture, each time you want to scroll through a page in the guide the “cursor” stops on the ad.
It will be interesting to see how long the ads last, and even more interesting to see if people will finally speak out about Comcast’s shaky business practices.