Remember the old days when we longed for a better TV picture quality? Well, we got it. HDTV. And then the TV networks decided we also needed BUGS, or digital on-screen graphics. And, they can be really annoying.

In North America, we call them BUGS, or sometimes logos. In Europe and other parts of the world, they call them DOGS, which is an abbreviation for digital on-screen graphics.  It is very easy for television networks to superimpose digital on-screen graphics on top of content. They do so in three ways.

• The first, and longest standing are scrolling horizontal banners and sometimes, sidebars. You see these on most of the specialty news channels like CNN and on many of the specialty sports channels. It is an easy way to provide a second source of information on a single screen. Sometimes, these banners present headlines and scores. Other times, the reinforce information about what has just been said during an interview. They also provide information like time and weather.
• The second form of DOGS are network identification, usually in the form of a network logo in one or more corners of the screen. These are the form of digital on-screen graphics that I find most annoying, because they have nothing to do with the program content and can often detract from the quality of the performance.
• The third and most recent form of digital on-screen graphics are short, often animated commercials or promotions for other programs. These can often take up a large chunk of screen real estate and they are very obtrusive. However, they usually last only ten seconds, and usually appear just after a commercial break. So, they are a somewhat minor issue. Also, you will sometimes see animated commercials on a sports broadcast that has limited commercial breaks, such as soccer. Fair enough.

(There is a fourth type of digital on-screen graphics used by your remote control to put information on the screen, either about program listings, changing channels or other settings. But this is something that is under your control, not the networks.)

Of these three network uses of digital on-screen graphics, I find the network logo the most annoying. It is on the screen all the time, except during commercials. The networks give two reasons for using DOGS. The first is protection of property rights. When there is a DOG on the screen, it is clear where the video came from. The second is identification or branding. They want people to know what television service (what we used to call channels) they are watching.

To some degree, I can accept these uses of digital on-screen graphics as legitimate. The problem is opacity, or the degree to which DOGS detract from the show I am watching. Opacity ranges along a scale of 0.0 (fully transparent) to 1.0 (fully opaque.)

How I got rid of digital on-screen graphics

Well, actually I just reduced their annoyance. Most networks have designed their digital on-screen graphics to be subtle when used for logos or network identification. On most networks, you will find the logos are grey in color and have low opacity. In most cases, unless the picture is extremely dark, you don’t notice them much.

But there is one television service provider in Canada that has purposely designed their DOGS to be intrusive. Shaw Media is the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. It owns the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice, HGTV Canada, Showcase, Food Network Canada, and History. If you watch any or of these channels in Canada, you will notice their highly opaque and annoying DOGS immediately. The use of digital on-screen graphics by this company stands out from its peers, and not in a good way.

The picture at the top of this article was taken on my phone while I was watching NCIS: Los Angeles in September 2012. That was the last day I watched anything on Global Television Network. I have simply black listed them. If there is a show I want to watch that is carried on Global, I will simply use my PVR to record it later in the evening on an American network and time shift. If that doesn’t work, I will find a different source on the Internet. I love Henrietta Lange (Linda Hunt) on NCIS: Los Angeles too much to watch her with a Global TV logo stuck on her face.

I have complained to Shaw Media, Global Television, the Canadian Radio-TV and Telecommunications Commission and the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. At worst, I received no response. At best, I was simply told that there are no standards or regulations governing the design and placement of digital on-screen graphics. Well, there should be.