Frequent TV listing errors result of many late changes

By Anne Harpham

In the past couple of weeks, readers have let us know about problems with listings in TV Week, the daily TV grids and in TV listings in the Sports section.

We know that these listings are very important to readers, and we spend a lot of time making sure they are accurate. We do err sometimes, but in most cases inaccuracies are the result of incorrect information that is provided to us.

Late and frequent changes by channels is one problem we have had lately. As a result, the TV Week staff now checks grids daily and has stepped up efforts to call the local cable companies to monitor changes. But in some cases, the changes made by the channels come too late for us to change the grids.

We will also be working with the cable providers to try to get a solution from their end.

This is still a work in progress and we are as frustrated as readers are when TV listings are inaccurate.

We also hear from readers when times listed in our "On the Air" listing of sports events on television don't jibe with what they see on TV.

How do times get skewed?

There are many factors, said sports editor Curtis Murayama, including differences in type of service from Oceanic-Time Warner Cable of Hawai'i, Craig Wireless

Honolulu, and the Dish Network satellite service.

Dish Network does not carry the same channels as Oceanic, such as OC-16 (high school sports). It does offer WGN (Cubs and White Sox baseball), which Oceanic doesn't.

USA network programming is delayed on Oceanic, but live on Dish Network.

In addition, the time listed may reflect a pregame show rather than the actual sports event. Pregame shows start about half hour before the actual start of the game.

Murayama said the sports department's policy is to list same-day coverage of sporting events, whether they are live or delayed.

For example, early competitions of golf tournaments are often delayed. We list those because they are delayed a few hours but occurred on the same day. We do on occasion list repeat telecasts, such as state high school championships or University of Hawai'i events.

Our list is based on Oceanic-Time Warner Cable's schedule. As a reader service, we often list numbers to call for programming updates.

An editor's note on the front page of today's paper explains why a Doonesbury strip in the comic section of today's paper is being published even though it may be offensive to some readers.

The topic of this Sunday's strip has nothing to do with Iraq, and the image in the last frame is metaphorical. But, nonetheless, we recognize that in the aftermath of the beheading of American Nicholas Berg by terrorists, many readers would be offended by an image that is now inappropriate.

We were notified of the image in the comic strip after our comics for this weekend were printed and shipped to us. As a result, we are warning people about the content.

Senior editor Anne Harpham is The Advertiser's reader representative. Reach her at 525-8033 or aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com.