[mythtv-users] Zap2it question.

[Bruce Markey]

Mark Gordon wrote:
>  I have heard 
> that Zap2it includes some kind of advertising with the data, is this 
> true and if so is it obtrusive in anyway?

Yes. They advertise NBC, CBS, ABC, USA, Comedy Central, etc as
well as premium channels like HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc. It's
not intrusive, you'd have an empty file if it did not include
the promotional information for the TV networks and stations.

There is a common misconception that if someone wants to get
listings then the evil corporations will try to take them away.
However, this misses the bigger picture that TV listings are how
the stations promote their shows and they are desperate to get
this information to you. No one asked for Data Direct. Tribune
Media Service initiated the project to offload the scraping
traffic to their websites. As a bonus, they get targeted
demographic information and a captive survey audience for free.

--  bjm