Are broadcasters obliged to air credits?

[PsychoJason]

I was wondering if the FCC or unions have rules stating that broadcasters must air the credits of television show? It seems that GSN has cut them short, and I was wondering if that is actually illegal?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'PsychoJason\' date=\'Apr 22 2005, 02:25 PM\']I was wondering if the FCC or unions have rules stating that broadcasters must air the credits of television show? It seems that GSN has cut them short, and I was wondering if that is actually illegal?

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No.

[Johnissoevil]

[quote name=\'PsychoJason\' date=\'Apr 22 2005, 05:25 PM\']I was wondering if the FCC or unions have rules stating that broadcasters must air the credits of television show? It seems that GSN has cut them short, and I was wondering if that is actually illegal?

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If that were the case, then many TV station owners and employees would have been sitting in jail a long time ago for cutting from the ending credits early, albeit by accident.

[PsychoJason]

[quote name=\'Johnissoevil\' date=\'Apr 22 2005, 08:02 PM\'][quote name=\'PsychoJason\' date=\'Apr 22 2005, 05:25 PM\']I was wondering if the FCC or unions have rules stating that broadcasters must air the credits of television show? It seems that GSN has cut them short, and I was wondering if that is actually illegal?

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If that were the case, then many TV station owners and employees would have been sitting in jail a long time ago for cutting from the ending credits early, albeit by accident.

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But if there are no rules, why are the broadcasters airing credits anyways, when they could use that valuable airtime for more commercials?

[saussage]

[quote name=\'PsychoJason\' date=\'Apr 22 2005, 04:25 PM\']I was wondering if the FCC or unions have rules stating that broadcasters must air the credits of television show? It seems that GSN has cut them short, and I was wondering if that is actually illegal?

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In my opinion, I believe that it was more an act of politeness to let the credits roll untouched (and a lack of technology). But in order to squeeze in more air time and more $$, networks will do almost anything in order to make that happen.

I believe that any show should have credits rolled in full in order to give everyone their proper due. Does everyone watch the credits... no! But here's the issue.
I would be pissed if I worked on something and no credit was mentionned for whatever reason and it would not matter why and what it would be. It could be game shows, tv shows, novels, newspaper columns, video games, etc.

Here's a history lesson on what happened on the video game front. Atari told their programmers that the programmers were not important enough to be mentionned in a game that they worked on. They were not more important as the person who was programming the game, boxing up the game, or even the employee who swept the floor. They all worked for ATARI and Atari was the only important thing to mention on  any game produced. The programmers were upset and defected out of Atari to form a new company called Activision and the key thing Activision did and still does today is to mention everyone involved in the making of a game.

Would shows, even old game shows have any recourse? Problably not. Like I said, it's not against the law but rather an act of politeness. GSN didn't make "To Tell the Truth", "Blockbusters", or "Love Connection". Then if you didn't help create this show (Insert credit-crunching network here), show us the many people who did. A 12 year old kid may not care who did what in a certain game show, but would it be nice to be able to at least know if someone wanted to know? I'm sure people from this forum wouldn't hesitatate to disagree that "the people and companies shown on credit rolls are not important".

Believe me, if the issue about credit-crunching is just so that someone can get a clean unaltered copy of a game show on tape, then unfortunatly, I just wasted about 2000 characters

I was a bit emotional on this post as I am a computer programmer and I wouldn't care at times if people were making copies of my software, but at least they would know where it came from and who helped to make it. Sorry to bore the heck out of everyone for my bloated post.

Saussage
Weeping while watching an unaltered Blockbusters '87's end credits while eating a hotdog with Mustard, Onions and relish

[tyshaun1]

[quote name=\'saussage\' date=\'Apr 22 2005, 11:03 PM\']Just look up....

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And then when my paycheck/royalty came in, I'd feel a lot better.

Tyshaun

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'saussage\' date=\'Apr 22 2005, 10:03 PM\']I believe that any show should have credits rolled in full in order to give everyone their proper due. Does everyone watch the credits... no! ...

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[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Apr 22 2005, 10:31 PM\']And then when my paycheck/royalty came in, I'd feel a lot better.

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Point to Tyshaun. (1 point) Furthermore, if you worked for CS01, would you want anyone to know?  Besides, does the average casual TV viewer even know what a dolly grip is?  Probably not, and he/she couldn't care less.

My take on this, though: if Dumb Dora is watching a show whose copyright byline has been removed by more promos, she's going to think its OK to copy it!  Not bright--on either side.

Tyshaun, 25 seconds to enjoy yourself, but NO NASCAR! [Tony Reali mode off]

[trainman]

National Geographic Channel, I note, doesn't air closing credits on their shows (even first-run shows), just a Web site address where interested parties can look them up.  Presumably, none of that channel's executives and/or master control operators have gone to jail yet.

[Gromit]

Hmm, I too thought there was a law requiring showing them, and the scrunching down to illegibility was being done to meet the letter of the law, and not the spirit.

It is a good question then, why show them at all? The "politeness" argument doesn't really ring true, we are talking about network and cable television here, where the mighty buck rules all.

There has to be some legal reason, contracts with the various labour unions, etc.

[Dbacksfan12]

You were told the same answer on GSN's boards, multiple times.
The answer won't be any different here.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Gromit\' date=\'Apr 23 2005, 12:17 AM\']Hmm, I too thought there was a law requiring showing them, and the scrunching down to illegibility was being done to meet the letter of the law, and not the spirit.

It is a good question then, why show them at all? The "politeness" argument doesn't really ring true, we are talking about network and cable television here, where the mighty buck rules all.

There has to be some legal reason, contracts with the various labour unions, etc.

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No.

You know what credits are for? So a show times out right. No more, no less.

The show needs to time out at 22:30 or whatever. But for some reason they came out of a break at 20:00, and there's no way they're gonna fill 2:30 sitting there at the desk. Run some credits. Boom, your show times out now.

When you're on the crew, yeah, it's nice to see your name. But it's far more important to get that check every two weeks that you can turn into a stack of green paper rectangles that the grocery store accepts in exchange for food.

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Apr 23 2005, 03:51 AM\']You know what credits are for? So a show times out right. No more, no less.[/quote]

Illustrated very well by the second round (as played so far) of the Jeopardy! Ultimate ToC. We've seen several long credit rolls in a row, simply because the players are flying through the material.

[Jimmy Owen]

Back during the days of network daytime games, it seemed like there was always one day a week (Fridays, mostly) where there was a long credit roll, those who were there might know if that was some sort of stipulation or just a courtesy.


  To me, it's fun to see the same names on other shows or names of folks who move up in stature; for example, a writer on "Blockbusters" later becomes a network executive, etc.  Or if somebody gets on the internet and tells you he or she worked on a show, credits validate their claim.


  Of course, Aunt Bertha likes to see your name as well.  Plus, it's nice to hear the parts of the theme music you wouldn't normally hear.  However, the way credits are (not) done now is the industry standard, it ain't gonna change.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Apr 23 2005, 05:23 AM\']Or if somebody gets on the internet and tells you he or she worked on a show, credits validate their claim.
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Assuming they are who in fact they claimed to be.

Sincerely,

Gil Fates

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Apr 23 2005, 08:23 AM\']Back during the days of network daytime games, it seemed like there was always one day a week (Fridays, mostly) where there was a long credit roll, those who were there might know if that was some sort of stipulation or just a courtesy.

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And that is *EXACTLY* why Fridays were my favorite day of the week when I was a child. The credit rolls of Sesame Street and The Electric Company ran on Fridays....And they were more than credits. Music beds, kids running around with Barkley.....Ahh..memories.

ObGameShow: Richard Dawson did a game show segment on Sesame Street, called "Family Food".