Network TV's Reinvention, Minus Much Reinvention At All

from the smoke-and-mirrors dept

Wed, Apr 29th 2009 7:36pm — Carlo Longino

It's no secret that these are tough times for network TV: dwindling ad spending, viewers moving away from linear channels in favor of DVRs, and others getting their shows from the web. So it's time for some reinvention, BusinessWeek says. The only problem is that its outline of the networks' reinvention doesn't really sound too different from the status quo, saying TV networks' big upcoming innovations are cutting production costs and slicing an hour out of prime time. It's clear that something needs to happen on the cost side of the equation, so perhaps these are incremental steps forward, but those cost cuts aren't going to help much if the networks don't do more to serve the changing desires and needs of their audience. But to that point, BW also says that "programs will be tailored to audiences" in the future, making one wonder exactly what they're tailored to now. The problem is, of course, instead of doing that, they're more interested in locking up their content and making it more difficult to access. There is one bit of "innovation" in the BW article, tacked on in the very last paragraph: evidently there's a new service being tested that will let friends send text messages to each other about shows they're watching. Now that sounds like a savior...

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Filed Under: networks, tv

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Kevin (profile), 29 Apr 2009 @ 8:17pm

Tried & True
"...there's a new service being tested that will let friends send text messages to each other about shows they're watching."

Now that's playing fast and loose with the word new if ever I heard. I mean, c'mon guys, can't we already *do* that? What's next? A partnership with the telcos to allow us to call our friends on cell phones after prime time and chat with them about what people on our favorite TV shows did?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2009 @ 1:42am

I have a service that will kick you in the ass every time there is a crash on screen to allow you to feel more in the show!
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2009 @ 5:16am

"... a ... service ... that will let friends send ... messages to each other about shows they're watching."

SMS, Twitter, Facebook, email...

Or do they mean a series of menu options that will 'let' you send a canned, "I'm watching American Idol!!" message from your TV?
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Tgeigs, 30 Apr 2009 @ 6:41am

Innovation?
"...there's a new service being tested that will let friends send text messages to each other about shows they're watching."

This is actually a pretty interesting idea. I'd to look into it further, but I'm currently reading into this new invention that will allow me to transport myself from one location to another, all while seated, and running off of something called petroleum. The term is "drive" apparently, whatever the hell that means.
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R. Miles, 30 Apr 2009 @ 7:47am

What the...
The goal is clear: keeping viewers glued to the program instead of channel-surfing or heading to the Web.
I'm still laughing at this line, especially when these executives are thinking of adding product placement in addition to commercial breaks.

Sure, a ton of ads will most definitely keep people glued to the program.

Ah. The digital era. What fun it's going to be for the next 5 years.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2009 @ 8:23am

Re: What the...
"Ah. The digital era. What fun it's going to be for the next 5 years."

There is already the technology to easily place logos over moving objects in video. We can eventually use this to cover all inserted ads it will be a script like the ones that remove banner ads on the web.
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The infamous Joe, 30 Apr 2009 @ 10:02am

Re: Tried & True
Now that's playing fast and loose with the word new if ever I heard. I mean, c'mon guys, can't we already *do* that? What's next?

This is.

TV is dead. Long live the internet.
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another mike, 30 Apr 2009 @ 1:32pm

real innovation
I like something the Discovery channel did a while back on satellite. They'd run a crawl at the bottom of the screen with headlines and info about the show you're watching with a "Would you like to know more?" button that would pull down more details and a longer story.
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Rekrul, 30 Apr 2009 @ 5:22pm

...slicing an hour out of prime time.

Great, that's one less hour of TV I have to worry about. Prime time drama shows are the only thing left that I still watch on TV. They can take their reality shows, talk shows, game shows and all the rest and shove it.
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Dan, 1 May 2009 @ 1:04am

Is the new service going to be called TVitter?
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