Wayne D's Blog

Unless you have a PVR with a built in guide channel accurate TV listings are more important than ever. TV networks now have a penchant for not maintaining a predictable schedule. They schedule a number of new episodes of a particular program, then perhaps stop showing new episodes for a month or two or show two or three episodes then skip a week or two before showing another new episode. Way back in December 2006 I wrote a blog post about how Yahoo had completely screwed up their TV listings. At the time we switched to the Canoe.ca tv listings because they provided a simple, fast loading TV listing service. Recently Canoe.ca decided to reformat their listing and dispense with the pop up for show details and Ajaxify them with and expanding tab to show details. The redesign has made the ads much more obtrusive in the details pane and they have also dropped the information on when the show is repeating which was very helpful in allowing you to tape a show you might have missed. The listing are still very good, clearly showing whether a show is a repeat or not.

I decided to quickly check Yahoo's listing and was surprised to find that they no longer sucked. They loaded quickly and about the only thing that was missing was a clear indication on whether a show was new or not. The shows in prime time are marked as to whether they are a repeat or not. The ads aren't even visible on the EEEPC screen as they are to the right of the listing column. I'd use Yahoo's TV listings except for one crucial factor. They have the channel line up wrong, instead of TLC one of the few channels I actually watch they list shows from a channel called VIVA. You think that as Rogers Cable partners they could at least get the Rogers channel lineup correct. Unfortunately there is no link on the page to report the problem, just links to precanned FAQ answers. So close, yet so far. Sorry Yahoo TV.

Illustrative screenshots of Canoe.ca TV listings




Screenshots of Yahoo TV listings