Is television dead? Banff says so.
“Welcome to the industry conference. You’ll all be out of work next year. Have a nice day.”
Okay, the message isn’t quite that clear, but people at the Banff World Television Festival which started this morning are all talking about a report that suggests the future of Canadian television and new media is facing “imminent collapse.”
The report says the rise of online TV, new distribution technologies and changing revenue streams “are threatening the broadcast system.
Heritage Minister Bev Oda delivered the opening address this morning and said Canada was lagging behind in terms of its support and embrace of new media development. In her remarks, she made a pledge of $29 million in funding support for new media production over a two year period.
I must admit that my own consumption of video has changed dramatically since the introduction of video podcasts. I watch an average of an hour of video podcasts each day. Some of my favourite shows, like CNN’s Reliable Sources, are podcast in their entirety with all commercials edited out. (CNN has tons of video podcasts, including original podcast-only shows. Then again, CNN has lots of money. <grin>)
What do you think? Is traditional television threatened by new media? (A recent CRTC report concluded the threat is minor, much to the chagrin of commercial radio broadcasters, who’d been saying they were under assault by new media and needed more regulatory flexibility.) If so, what should the CBC do in the face of a dying medium? (Constructive comments, please; “The CBC should shut down!” will not be approved.)
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I am not sure what should or can be done, but I will stand up and say I am a fan of online content and it competes with standard TV for my attention. I enjoy personal video blogs immensely. I watch various weekly online video shows (Galacticast, Freshtopia) as well those not as frequently updated (TikiBar TV, Your Geek News). Most are short and I watch them at my computer desk. I rather sit comfortably on the couch and watch TV for longer programs (30 minutes +), but I am getting used to watching longer shows that I missed on TV on my computer. I also listen to audio podcasts.
All are independently produced. Much of it is niche. The quality varies but I think I like how I can determine when I watch/listen. I also like how enthusiastic the producers and on screen talent seem about what they do. Indie spirit I guess.
You said it: VIDEO PODCASTS! I personally can’t watch public/private television anymore because every once in a while during an commercial, they throw a program between them. *smerk* No seriously–if I had the choice of viewing commercial free content, you bet, I will pay for my URL and stream the “commercial free content” down to my computer from off of the Internet. If I do want to see something from my cable, I simply record onto my DVD-recorder, and later on during the day, when it is more convenient, I watch it–skipping over the breaks. I do not believe that TV is dead; it will go through a number changes as the other media formats take their place and find their markets.
Television is not dead… it’s only gone into sleep mode. The medium is designed to regularly self-destruct. When Black and White TV came to Canada it was such a complex and technically difficult medium. Television was supposed to spell the death of Hollywood’s Picture Palaces… but the years have proved that wrong. The passing of New Jersey’s Soprano’s is a carbon Dallas’s passing. Remember then? J.R. dead and nowhere to go. I think they’re all trembling at the time when movies will be simul-released on the Internet. Schizophrenia is the fate of all television producers and executives. And there is no such thing as Reality Television. Period. Surreality maybe. But reality, no way.
This is kind of like decades after God was said to be dead and the Simpsons ran a program about finding Angel Bones… blowing on the coals of our existential angst. Banff is there to enliven Television production, amongst other Arts… not to bury it. I am a fan of Ivan Tuturnitoff, the Russian Television Critic who has figured out what to do with boring productions and inane plot structures.
Seriously? Seriously! I’ve been associated in one way or another with the Banff World Television Festival for more than 20 years. For the past 7 years, I’ve been a part of the selection committee that narrows the choices for consideration for the Banff Rockie Awards, among the most prestigious in the television industry. Every year we are amazed, stunned, blown away, moved, dynamited, and delighted by the depth and breadth of the programming we see from around the world. Television is not dead. Far from it. As a child, I got up and watched the test pattern until the first morning program came on, in glorious black and white. I suspect that when I die, a television will be on somewhere in the room.