Discovery Channel is known by idents (presentations of channel logo between program blocks in CGI or movie sequence) sometimes lasting over 1 minute – like this 2-minute one (or they are two, one minute each). I'm interested in identifying another similar ident according to details I remember – it is longer series of cut-scenes. Is asking to identify such an ident on topic here on Movies&TV?
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1They shouldn't.– Ankit Sharma ModCommented Mar 10, 2017 at 12:52
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I do not understand the above comment. I cannot match it even gramatically to any part of the question. Could please someone explain to me whether the subject is on topic in more understandable way?– miroxlavCommented Mar 10, 2017 at 14:31
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1@miroslav Not even to the question title?– Napoleon Wilson ModCommented Mar 10, 2017 at 16:34
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@NapoleonWilson – Q: Is question about identifying TV channel “ident” on-topic? A: They shouldn't. Honestly, these two do not go together for me. Maybe because I am not native English speaker. Perhaps I expected that someone drops some brief explanation etc. but maybe it was wrong expectation. Have a nice day anyway. :)– miroxlavCommented Mar 10, 2017 at 19:23
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The expectation that someone will give a proper explanation is reasonable and I'm sure someone will give a detailed answer at some point. Niether am I saying that comment was right. All I'm saying is that it shouldn't be too hard to understand that comment as a response to the question's title.– Napoleon Wilson ModCommented Mar 10, 2017 at 19:25
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3 Answers
This will come down to "What is an 'ident' "
Quite simply it is nothing more than a commercial since it serves no other purpose except to promote the content provider...regardless of whether it was shown on the channel it is promoting or another platform.
As such, it is off-topic.
For the sake of objectivity, we should first focus on the question:
Are TV channel "idents" on-topic on Movies & TV?
This allows us to leave the polarized views on Identify-this questions aside, because so long as the subject matter is on topic, an identify-this question on the subject matter is allowed (provided that it contains sufficient detail).
Likely the answer to whether idents are on-topic or not will be determined by a consensus on whether or not they should be considered as commercial advertisements. And continuing in that line, this should be dictated by the community's existing consensus on whether movie trailers and film production and post-production "idents" (think of the MGM lion and the THX logo, for example) are considered on-topic or as commercials/off-topic. As long as these things are on-topic (*and someone please point out if either are explicitly off-topic), it follows that TV channel idents should also be on-topic. That is, provided, their content does not explicitly urge its audience to contact their provider and subscribe to the channel, as outright commercials are off-topic.
Coming back to the identify-this aspect, if "TV channel ident" questions are on-topic, then identify questions for them will be. But the existing guidelines apply, so if someone simply posted a screenshot and little or no description, it'd be off-topic.
P.S. I'm sure there's another common term often used rather than "ident" but I'm drawing a blank right now, can anyone jog my memory?
Most of idents could be considered advertisements although in the U.S. they are mandatory for broadcast stations and therefore their case could be different. Quoted from the above link:
American broadcast stations are required, under federal law, to declare their call sign and city of license at least once an hour, as close to the top of the hour as is reasonably possible. (...) Note this only applies to broadcast stations; a station that is on the Internet or is a cable-only or satellite-based station (...) do not have call signs and are not required to identify themselves.
Even if idents could be off-topic here, some resources can be found on blog dedicated to them: idents.tv/blog.