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Comment by Bartweiss | Hacker News Reader

It's a nice start, definitely. I used to use a gym that ran CNN constantly, and during the Casey Anthony trial I realized I was actually being put off working out by the thought of seeing more lurid garbage about the case.

That said, the article still offers:

> The big-screen TVs at all clubs will now air “USA, A&E, Discovery and HGTV, in addition to local stations and ESPN”

I'm delighted to have found a gym that simply doesn't have massive TV screens within every line of sight. Put optional ones in cardio machines, sure. But I don't actually want to watch anything while I'm working out, and it's strange to me that screens are so omnipresent in gyms.

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> I'm delighted to have found a gym that simply doesn't have massive TV screens within every line of sight.

I like shopping at Aldi because they don't play music.

The worst are chains which don't just play pop music but also have pseudo radio jockeys which talk about gossip and try to be funny. It's insultingly stupid.

The gym I'm currently at doesn't have any TVs. Unfortunately, they play some music. The volume is very low, though.

You know what's even worse? Gas station TV (GSTV.com). Utterly awful content that nobody ever wanted, spewed at you by the pump while you're filling up your car.

Speedway doesn't bother with that. They just play an endless loop at high volume hawking the highest margin products from the store with happy, smiling faces. It's turned me off from buying gas from them actually.

They also used to play loud pop music in the stores until the clerks couldn't stand it themselves and lowered the volume. Every time the district manager visits he makes them crank it up high and the minute he leaves the volume goes back down again ;<)!

At least you can hit the second button down on the right to mute it.

There was a gas station that I used that had that annoying GSTV stuff going, but one day the machine refused to give me my receipt until the video stopped playing. Amusingly, that location closed less than a month after that. Good riddance.

A new one opened in its place with none of that nonsense.

I actively avoid those gas stations solely because of those screens. I hope enough of us do so that it impacts their bottom lines.

It always seemed to me that was sponsored content that probably subsidizes the gas station a bit. Kind of like the crap software that comes preinstalled on PCs to give a little extra kick back to the bottom line for the manufacturer.

> The worst are chains which don't just play pop music but also have pseudo radio jockeys

I'll one-up you - the grocery story nearest my house has abandoned all pretense, and just plays a non-stop ad loop over the PA. It's easier to tune out than bad pop, granted, but it feels like absolutely shameless abuse of my attention.

As for music in gyms, I suppose I'm cheating - the rock gym I go to plays music that could easily have been from my Pandora station, so I don't actually worry about how annoying it might be.

> It's strange to me that screens are so omnipresent in gyms

Same with bars. I want to go have a drink and chat with people. I just don't understand the need for TV in places like these.

that would make for a great A/B test of these environments for some outcome. With a bar maybe the number of drinks/food ordered, who knows. Might be a great surprise the outcome.

Sports, basically

And some people go to the bars to watch sports with their friends

Honestly, I don't object to muted sports in bars - even ones that aren't nominally sports bars. Sports-watching is more social than news, and less intrusive if you're not interested. Just turn the damn things off if there's nothing to watch, and maybe have a few bars without TVs.

I might be spoiled, though. In a city this size I can find most any type of bar I want - when I lived in a spot where Buffalo Wild Wings was considered a 'good' bar, I felt a bit differently.

What else are you going to look at while you sit hogging a station for 5 minutes waiting for your next set?

The usual reason I hear is that talking distracts from drinking, so loud music and captivating screens raise drink revenues. I'm not convinced that's right, though.

As a reason for deafening music in clubs, sure. As a reason for screens and volume-on in pubs? I've definitely left bars early, or avoided them altogether, specifically because it was too hard to have a chat with friends.

My 'local' has one small TV, muted, and the rest is live music, talking, and posters on the walls. It's a proper "third place", and doing incredibly well for it - so much so that I wonder if most bars are just scared of taking the risk.

Is this a regional thing? Where I live, neighborhood bars and sports bars have TVs, but everything else doesn't.

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