In the 500 channel universe everyone is programming against type - the golf channel, the game show channel....Flip TV breaks out of this paradigm and instead programs against TIME. Rather than battling the big boys Flip TV recognizes that everyone (OK...everyone male) starts flipping channels as soon as the credits and ads start rolling at 5 minutes to the top or bottom of the hour and instead plays new format "micro-documentaries", "jolt per minute reality TV" and other equally brief and diversionary programming.

Flip TV's success ultimately breaks network conspiracy to all play adverts at exactly the same time forcing odd program start times ("Law & Order tonight at 11:17") before final bugs in tv on demand systems are worked through and showtime becomes anytime.

The only remaining question...what to do with the other 25 minutes?
-- dmclachlan, Jul 17 2000

The "500 channel universe" is a universe of digital TV with adaptive compression algorithms. (That quick zoom on ESPN borrows bandwidth from a talking head on CNN.) The only "space" taken up by an idle channel is the channel number on the "dial"... and with 500 channels, there isn't really a dial either.

So you don't need to do anything with the other 25 minutes; the channel just doesn't exist (or consume any bandwidth) during that time.

Call it the "Brigadoon channel".
-- egnor, Jul 17 2000


During the rest of the time the channel could show microadvertisements designed to catch the attention of a channel-surfer for about 5 seconds or so; by the time he realizes it's an ad, it's done.
-- bookworm, Jul 18 2000


Domino Pizzas use a 'microadvertisement' during the simpsons in the UK. lasts about 5 seconds and according to a friend of mine who works there, it's VERY successful. Domino staff start preparing for it half an hour before it airs. they call it the "simpsons rush".
-- FrancoCoylioni, Sep 22 2000



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