TV

When I arrived back to Lek's I find her alone in the apartment watching TV and ironing. She has Dish Network and is catching up on her US favorites. We watch Homeland (is Carrie crazy, or is she not??? Who is trying to recruit her?) and Criminal Minds (I love a good serial killer in the afternoon!)

I'm amazed by the number of ads / promos / messages hovering on the screen at all times. In US the network logo either pops up periodically or sits stationary and somewhat unobtrusively on the lower right corner, and some special promos may briefly feed across the bottom. Here the network logo takes a permanent throne on the screen, and promos and ads may come at bottom, top, corners at any time or all the time.

On some channels the commercial time triggers a countdown in the upper left -- so you know how much time you have to run to the fridge or the WC. Hurry up!

Intermittently a serial number pops up right in the middle of the screen in a black box -- showing the consumer's Dish license, I've assumed.

Additionally the English shows have subtitles -- in English. WTF? Am I missing the point? Wouldn't the English show be subtitled in Hindi or Telugu or… some local language which the viewer may speak while he does not speak / read English?? Or perhaps the TV is being used to practice American English listening and / or enunciation?

Or... could it be... that American English is such a foreign sound, that is requires subtitles for the locals to understand?????