View Full Version : Who Maintains the Accuracy of Digital Cable/Dish Program Guides?


Jack1000
01-21-2007, 03:04 PM
Guys,

I ask this because while my guide shows accurate information about 90% of the time, there are rare instances where program information will be wrong for certain episodes days at a time. An example of this is today@11:30 PM CST:

THE BRADY BUNCH: For the last week or more, the episodes listed have been 1-2 days BEHIND what has actually aired. Today, the episode, "Love and the Older Man" was presented on the guide, but what was actually shown was "Greg Gets Grounded."

There are cases of other episodes where program information on sitcoms or series is ALWAYS wrong whenever it comes up. Here are two examples that I can remember:

I LOVE LUCY: The episode, "Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her." is REPLACED by "Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to do Away With Her." all the time.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: The episode, "Barn Burner" has a faulty description, which says, "Charles and Joe Kagen are jurors in the trial of a bigot accused of torching a barn and assaulting Adam." One part is wrong, in this episode, it it Andy (Garvey's son") who is assaulted by the bigot Mr. Larabee, not Adam.

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER: The episode, "Wally and Dudley" which is about a new student who transfers to Mayfield High. But the episode's description says, "Beaver is assigned to introduce a new boy."

At first I think the obvious, my cable company put out the wrong info for these episodes or airdates. But I checked around and can verify that other people in other states with different cable/dish companies have cited the same examples I cite above with these episodes. I know that the program guide information is updated regularly. Is this information downloaded to all of the different cable/dish companies that use the same database for their information? When cable/dish menus are updated with new software, does this also have anything to do with the accuracy of the program information? Or is this something that the cable/dish networks can not always control?

Jack

theshark8777
01-21-2007, 06:22 PM
Those programming guides come from different companies. TiVo uses Tribune I believe. I'm not sure who the others use.

Jenya
01-21-2007, 10:25 PM
Those guides are no good for my "Free-To-Air" satellite dish. All the channels are not the same as the guides list them.:(

treky
01-24-2007, 02:37 AM
well, the listings on our on-screen guide are always right-but, they don't always have a description for every show.

The guides in our newspaper, though are only right about 80% of the time; for cable channels. Exept for E! They're hardly EVER right about the listings for them. Like on weeknights, no matter what E! is showing; the paper most of the time just says E! SPECIAL- no matter WHAT the show is!!!:mad:

And a lot of times they list DR. 90210 (what's that show about, anyway? Cause it sounds stupid!!!) and I'll turn it on-and they're showing THE E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY.

It reminds me of something-YEARS ago, when MASH first started (yes, I'm that old) our newspaper had the exact same description for each and every episode "Alan Alda, Wayne Rodgers and McLean Stevenson play three war-weary doctors at a field hospital during the Korean war".