54 replies to this topic

[dirac]

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However, broadcast TV is going the way of the telephone land line.

Broadcast TV faces challenges, to be sure, but it's not breathing its last just yet although certainly that could happen. "This American Life" lasted only a couple of seasons on Showtime but I expect they'd still prefer to be there if they could.

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All very good points, especially the idea that the agencies could nudge them in the direction of new media distribution!

Yes, indeed.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

dirac, on 27 April 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

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However, broadcast TV is going the way of the telephone land line.

Broadcast TV faces challenges, to be sure, but it's not breathing its last just yet although certainly that could happen. "This American Life" lasted only a couple of seasons on Showtime but I expect they'd still prefer to be there if they could.

Just to clarify: by "broadcast TV" I mean what gets beamed out over the airways, not what's ported in by cable or satellite.

There's a reason "This American Life" didn't last on Showtime: TV is absolutely the wrong medium for that show.

Edited to add: at some point, and probably not in the too-distant future, there's going to be a battle royal between the cable companies and the internet-based content providers who have begun to disrupt their business model.

[dirac]

I wasn't commenting on the suitability of "This American Life" for TV, although I quite agree with you on that point (I suspect the show would have lasted longer on HBO, say, which tends to give its failing shows more than two seasons unless it features racehorses that keep dropping dead).  I merely meant that the creators of a series would still prefer to get on television in whatever way if that's an option for them. "This American Life" would never have made it to the networks but I expect those behind the series would have been thrilled if it could.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

dirac, on 27 April 2012 - 10:28 AM, said:

I wasn't commenting on the suitability of "This American Life" for TV, although I quite agree with you on that point (I suspect the show would have lasted longer on HBO, say, which tends to give its failing shows more than two seasons unless it features racehorses that keep dropping dead).  I merely meant that the creators of a series would still prefer to get on television in whatever way if that's an option for them. "This American Life" would never have made it to the networks but I expect those behind the series would have been thrilled if it could.

Just curious - why do you think they'd prefer to be on TV? Bigger audience? Superior medium? More dollars?

I don't know how many people listen to the actual radio broadcast of TAL, but more than 500,000 people download the podcast each week. The top cable TV show last night (4/26/12) was "South Park" with a total live + SD (same day DVR) audience of 2.3 million. The total audience for an episode of the radio version TAL can't be too far behind that. (The top broadcast TV show last night was "American Idol" watched by a grand total of 16.8 million live and SD.)

[dirac]

I would think from most (not all) perspectives a successful show on the networks or cable remains for the present at least as desirable a platform as a podcast, but it could be me.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

I think it depends on the material. "This American Life" is, I think, best served by its current audio format, however one might choose to listen to it. If just as many people (if not more) are going to listen to it as watch it, why try to make TV out of it? I'm sure I'm missing something, but then I'm admittedly not much of a TV person.

Now ballet, that won't work as a podcast.

[sandik]

Kathleen O, on 27 April 2012 - 09:33 AM, said:

There's a reason "This American Life" didn't last on Showtime: TV is absolutely the wrong medium for that show.

And just this evening, as I was in the car listening to the radio, they announced that This American Life will be doing a live show that will be broadcast to several movie theaters.

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Edited to add: at some point, and probably not in the too-distant future, there's going to be a battle royal between the cable companies and the internet-based content providers who have begun to disrupt their business model.

We agree on this -- shall we set up a popcorn stand?

[Kathleen O'Connell]

sandik, on 27 April 2012 - 09:45 PM, said:

Kathleen O, on 27 April 2012 - 09:33 AM, said:

There's a reason "This American Life" didn't last on Showtime: TV is absolutely the wrong medium for that show.

And just this evening, as I was in the car listening to the radio, they announced that This American Life will be doing a live show that will be broadcast to several movie theaters.

Quote

Edited to add: at some point, and probably not in the too-distant future, there's going to be a battle royal between the cable companies and the internet-based content providers who have begun to disrupt their business model.

We agree on this -- shall we set up a popcorn stand?

OT OT OT -- sorry!

Re the TAL live show: Radiolab does live shows too. I suspect the fact that both Ira Glass and Jad Abumrad (who received a  MacArthur "genius" grant in September) are something akin to public radio rock stars has more than a little to do with it. I also suspect that it's easier to find material that works outside a strictly audio format for one or two shows than it is for a whole season.

Re the popcorn: I'd be more enthusiastic about the entertainment value of the coming Cable / Internet slugfest if I weren't absolutely convinced that the consumer is going to lose in the end. My husband and I cut the cable cord a while back and have made do quite nicely with the a la carte streaming options available to us via our dvd player. At some point our cable company will want to throttle that -- they're not extracting nearly as much from us for an internet connection as they did for internet + cable.

Edited to add: just FYI for those outside of New York City  -- it is almost impossible to get a good broadcast TV signal in Manhattan proper. Until now, it's been cable or nothing if you wanted to watch network TV. Then came the internet.

[dirac]

Kathleen O, on 27 April 2012 - 03:27 PM, said:

I think it depends on the material. "This American Life" is, I think, best served by its current audio format, however one might choose to listen to it. If just as many people (if not more) are going to listen to it as watch it, why try to make TV out of it? I'm sure I'm missing something, but then I'm admittedly not much of a TV person.

I wasn't speaking to the particular suitability of "This American Life" for television  but the general desirability of having your show on television. I used it as a random example of a show moving to TV.( I've never been a regular follower of the show in any format, having only listened to the radio show a few times and the TV series twice, by accident.) I am a regular viewer of PBS, so I do hope the performing arts don't cut the cord any time soon....

[Kathleen O'Connell]

Even when I had cable, I didn't watch much PBS mostly because I didn't watch much TV. And of course, living in NYC, I'm spoiled: there's so much live art to take in that there's little reason to try to catch a broadcast. (I'm one of those oddballs who'd rather see a nobody live than stay home to see a bona fide somebody on TV. But that's just personal preference.)

That being said, I think that PBS should continue to broadcast the performing arts. I just think that arts organizations neither can not should rely on PBS as a performance showcase.