Are content restrictions helping kill broadcast television?
We’ve covered the decline of network television previously; people are switching off traditional television stations as alternative outlets offer better choice, the choice is richer online and on cable, and as viewers switch off, income is reduced, creating a cycle of reduced quality of what’s left, driving even more people to switch off.
But could restrictions on “decency” be driving the switch off in the United States? Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture and television at Syracuse University thinks that it is, telling Wired:
“Without a doubt, the business model of network television is suffering from competition with other channels who operate with fewer content restrictions..his country’s obsession with not uttering naughty words and not talking about s-e-x is borderline psychotic. Strike that, it is psychotic.”
Noted in the article are hit shows that could only have been shown on cable: The Sopranos, Sex & The City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Weeds and Mad Men. Betsy Schiffman adds “And not only is the public accepting of the adult content, many people pay to watch it.”
Content restrictions act as an artificial inhibitor on broadcast television to offer freely shows that people want to watch, denying them the ability to maximize profit.
Having these restrictions doesn’t help, but it’s also not the main reason viewers are switching off. The stringent restrictions in the United States, best demonstrated in the Superbowl Nipplegate saga of 2004, are not typical of broadcasting markets worldwide (for example you can see full frontal nudity on Australian TV, and shows including The Sopranos, Weeds, Oz and Dexter have been shown on FTA TV) and yet commercial broadcasters globally (perhaps with some exceptions) are all suffering from a switch off of viewers. US broadcasters may have a commercial disadvantage here, but ultimately the switch is to watching shows on demand, or to providers who offer many streams of content, such as Cable. The audience is fragmenting, the long tail is now being applied to video content, and the days of show it and they will watch it are passing.
Easing restrictions on what can be shown on broadcast television in the United States may help in boosting short term viewer numbers, but it will never address the fact that it is the distribution method itself will ultimately cause broadcast television to fall.
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Aug 6, 2008
Duncan,
Interesting post. The facts are the most viewed video program is American Idol, a commercial network TV property. As it happens, that program continues to enjoy the position of earning the second highest priced spot rate after the Super Bowl. Your suggestion that linear or so-called appointment viewing is heading into life support there are a growing number of solutions that will assist the viewer in time shifting their favorites (e.g., TiVo, cable DVR, et al). In sum the play's the thing no matter the original platform. Perhaps that is the biggest shift of all. Place of origin matters not when distribution is enabled granting viewer control of the content. That is to say, commercial and non-commercial networks need to get out of the import business and into the business of export. The decades old best practices of getting viewers to tune in at a specific time are replaced by the new best practices of making the video available on viewer terms. What really matters is that they view the show not how, not when ( the sponsor issues including the practical end of time sensitive price and item selling, e.g., “Tomorrow only at Sears”, yet to be worked out).
US commercial broadcast, collectively, has not yet pushed the regulatory grant of “safe harbor” (exceptions included SNL and the weekday late night talk shows). My sense is a commercial network could legally run any of the cable offerings you cited in the hours of safe harbor and do so with a strong and reasonable legal defense for affiliates to employ. However, commercial networks are not the deciders, they don't have an FCC license to protect, the system is structured in such a manner that the local affiliates, each individual station, is made to account for 100% of the responsibility for all programming broadcast. Keep in mind the FCC is, by charter, a complaint driven agency. In practice this means that unless and until they get a complaint the FCC does nothing about broadcast content.
Let me also put the non-broadcast and broadcast programming into another perspective.
The big viewing on non-broadcast is sports. The consistently highest rated of all offerings? Wrestling.
The biggest investment in programming is made year after year by commercial networks. There is no argument here, when you are watching commercial television you are watching the best television that money can buy.
HBO is as good as it gets on paid TV. At last count after decades of great marketing and as I would argue brilliant original programming they enjoy a small niche audience of 28 million subs.
Commercial broadcast TV is not doubt at another crossroads but my suggestion is don't count them out, not yet.
Duncan, you do a fine job. Keep up the good work. Best,
Dec 24, 2008
The endless, endless, always longer commercial breaks — and not just that, but featuring obnoxious people and stupid themes — make me turn the channel at ads here in the US, too. Plus (and this might tie in with the declining revenue which you reference), network TV-made shows just have this cheesey, overdone, overproduced look, feel, and background music about them. Just plain annoying. Even freaking made-for-TV movies and television sitcom reruns from the 1970s almost seem moodier and movie theater-quality, compared to current network American TV programming, sometimes.
Jun 10, 2010
Yes, its true. People are now switching off traditional television and preferring to watch TV online. Most of the internet users watch TV channels online these days and I am one of them
. It is easily accessable and streaming is better with more clarity. Most of the sites like spike.com are now facilitating users with online TV channels so that more and more internet users can watch movies,video clips with better online streaming.