Those watching MSNBC on a TV-- Are the Cayman Island commercials

played at 10X normal decibels on tv? I stream it online and even with cheap laptop speakers, it is so loud I'm afraid it is going to damage something... very ver irritating? Is it just a problem with online streaming?

It happens to me too, when I try to watch on my computer and blog at the same time. I think it's some sort of online streaming issue regarding the commercials run by the ISP vs. the network.

If you were capable of watching on TV and online at the same time, you'd notice that tvpc.com runs all the MSNBC-sold advertising, but then there are gaps before the return of the show into which the local cable company drops local ads that it has sold, including its own, before the MSNBC promo that leads back into the program. (On satellite dish transmissions, this gap is filled by advertising for the dish company itself and its programming.) It's into this gap that tvpc.com drops its own ads, a large number of which appear to be paid for by the Cayman Islands tourism board, although there are some others. When they don't sell enough ads, they run public service announcements at the same enormous volume.

It is indeed annoying. I'm constantly having to go mute it so as not to get blasted out of the room, then turn sound back on again before the show returns.

The instant the volume starts to increase, I'm desperately hitting the mute button... then I forget to turn it back up and end up missing half of KO or Rachel. Very frustrating. But, I guess I shouldn't complain. I'm not paying for cable.

others damned near blow my eardrums out when they come on. I can't grab the remote fast enough to turn the volume down!

Are you thinking of the Bahamas ones?

Trust me, nothing on TV approaches the loudness of the tvpc.com ad decibel level unless you make it so.