We download television in Australia because we like television and we have to wait six whole months to get it through legitimate channels. Meanwhile our internet friends in the United States are talking about shows we haven't seen yet and won't see until they are very old news. How do we continue to relate to our friends in the global community when our local media channels have a half year gap between them? We go where the television is. In pre-internet days that would mean trekking across the globe to the right geographical location, but also in those days we might never have heard about our favourite show because it just didn't play here and nobody could tell us.
Now with the internet we don't need a geographically dense population of the right demographic to make a successful television show. We have a global pipe that can get our show to exactly the right audience worldwide simultaneously for near-zero distribution cost. So what's standing in the way? Well, for one thing there are myriad lawyers lining the virtual borders with copyright banners and licensing contracts.
Then there are the problems of how much (and just plain how) to charge for it and make money. Someone's got to figure out both of these problems together. If you start selling all the content over iTunes six months ahead of an arbitrary local schedule, will you put the local free-to-air broadcasters or pay TV providers out of business? What kind of mayhem will result when people can just buy television that has no ads in it? How will we promote new shows when there's no time scheduling to provide lead-in and there's no advertising between acts?
Until these hysterical questions are answered, it's unlikely commercial television will move forward into a proper global culture.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I don't bother with much television any more.
PPS - That's mostly a quality issue, though.
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