In printed TV guides, it is not uncommon to see listings on ABC1 summed up as simply “Children’s Programs” in an attempt to save space, so more space can be dedicated to detail prime time and other shows. Typically, children’s programs - especially those made for pre-schoolers - tend to be short so a three hour block can contain something like 20 different shows and take considerable space to list out.
Recently I spotted the short cut “Children’s Programs” as part of the ABC3 program listing - a channel dedicated ONLY to children’s programs for 15 hours a day. In fact, the entire hours of ABC3 could be summed up as “Children’s Programs”. Surely an extra line of space would allow the ABC3 program to be listed in full.
Using “Children’s Programs” as part of the ABC3 listing would be like using “Sport” as a shortcut to save some space on listing programs for ONE HD - it tells you nothing!
While we are at it - isn’t it time that TV guides dump the use of “WS” to indicate is a show is in wide screen or not? Now that we have had digital TV in Australia for 9 years, the majority of shows are presented in wide screen. It is time to switch over the a symbol that indicates if a show is NOT in widescreen - something like “PB” indicating pillar box.
Back in 1984 - 9 years after colour TV was introduced to Australia, TV guides had been using “BW” or “B&W” to indicate that shows were shown in black and white as opposed to still saying that a show was made in colour.
