The TV biz has changed substantially over the past few years, and so has our society’s perception of it. We could inundate our visitors with pertinent facts and figures, but letting the culture itself demonstrate the changes is more fun.
Especially when we’re doing it through another evolving media: “Hey, kids, cartoons!”
The latest on the ongoing evolution of the home entertainment paradigm. (Well, what else are we supposed to call it? Ain’t really just “TV” anymore, is it?)
It’s not easy being an indie standalone channel in the era of cord-cutting and “too much TV.” Participant Media learned that the hard way, moving in to pull the plug on its three-year old network Pivot TV, writing off a $200 million initial investment and further tens of millions in costs.
Cord-cutting “continues to dominate investor outlooks,” RBC Capital Markets’ Steven Cahall said this week. Pay TV providers– cable, satellite and telcos — lost 665,602 subscribers in Q2, according to researcher Bruce Leichtman.Their annual rate hikes have become risky as consumers, especially Millennials, warm to low cost alternatives including Netflix. Many cable owners fear that cord cutting and shaving will accelerate when they face planned live streaming services from Hulu and AT&T’s DirecTV — and possibly Apple.
Think TV writers here in the US of A have it bad? Thank your lucky stars and garters that you aren’t working in South Africa!
Dear Comrade Oberstgruppenfuhrer Hlaudi Motsoeneng the First, Commander of the SABC in General and the Airwaves in Particular, Guardian of Local Content, Master of Invention, Supreme Defender of the Truth, I kneel before you in greeting.
Congratulations on taking the public broadcaster to new heights. There are those who say you have dragged it to new depths. Pay no heed to these counter-revolutionary quislings. Depths, as you know, are nothing more than heights in reverse. It all depends on how you look at things. And you, sir, are able to look at things in a way that beggars belief. Speaking of beggars, please issue a decree banning the depiction or mention of beggars on your television and radio stations. People exposed to beggars will want to become beggars themselves and soon there will be nobody left to pay your handsome salary.
Speaking of indie video and film, as we have been this week HERE and also HERE, this is something we all should know:
The WGAW rides to the rescue again!
The second best-kept secret in showbiz is that it’s a business. The first is that, like all businesses, although talent is a necessity, power always prevails. And guess what? – looks like even H’wood’s biggest booster pub, The Hollywood Reporter, agrees:
by Phil Stutz as told to Pamela McClintock
Phil Stutz, who tends to some of the town’s top studio executives, explains the need to make decisions quickly, alone and on instinct, and “microtransactions” that get you respect — even when you’ve been fired.
Each person has potential for power. Because I’m interested in the philosophy of this, I have ended up treating a lot of studio executives; they make up 15 to 20 percent of my patients. Most aren’t realistic about what the job is actually going to be.