Thread: Free To Air TV Is Rubbish.

TV sucks. That was the gist of feedback from viewers this week after a news.com report detailed the pet peeves of the viewing public. And as Australia is the country guilty of the most illegal downloads per capita in the world,you would think that TV networks might see the phenomenon as a cause and effect situation. We all know it is better in the long run to end a relationship that isn't working,and TV networks have become our outdated first love. The current gripes with free-to-air programming and advertising are exactly the same issues we faced in pre-remote control days,when parents used their kids as human channel changers. Back then,channel surfing during ad breaks required physical effort,as in getting up off the lounge,so we tended to sit through things we mightn't ordinarily tolerate. Post remote controls,everything changed. Or it should have,because who in their right minds would endure something annoying,or repetitive,in their own home,when at a touch of a button,it can be made to go away? But instead of adapting to this electronic revolution,the general consensus from TV networks appeared to be to forge on regardless.

Maintain the delayed programming,change timeslots mid-season,show episodes out of order,make sure to run overtime,and punctuate everything on offer with an overload of advertisements,including movies,which are designed to be viewed in one uninterrupted hit. Don't worry that thanks to something called the internet,viewers know exactly when new seasons of programs air overseas,just assume they'll be happy to avoid spoilers and updates for months until a network decides to screen its hoarded bounty. That'll work. Actually it doesn't,and in a society where customisation is king,viewers are still expected to be satisfied with a one-size-fits-all attitude. Pay TV created the concept of repeating their programming with a two hour delay on designated "+2" channels,but we've yet to see this on free-to-air. Sure,recording is an option,but who hasn't experienced the disappointment of settling in for an anticipated playback that despite factoring in delays of up to 30 minutes,ominously features the last 10 minutes of the preceding show,and ends minutes before the final,vital scenes?

Foxtel is scrambling to pick up free-to-air defectors with cheaper,more flexible packages,and has introduced a channel that features entire seasons of programs aired in a block,rather than the standard drip-feed. The same can't be said for free-to-air,which maintains a "La-la-la-la-la" fingers-in-the-ears attitude. Consider ratings provider OzTAM,which uses data from 3500 metropolitan homes and 2135 in regional areas,to calculate what 23 million of us like to watch. That's 0.02% speaking for everyone. Treated as an accurate representation of our viewing habits,it could be,maybe,if figures included downloads,and programs we watch on our phones,tablets and PCs. They don't. TV programmers continue to ignore those who have abandoned traditional TV,and cater solely to the tastes and viewing habits of a minuscule proportion of those who are left. Take for example Top Gear,when it was on SBS and BBC Knowledge it was an hour show,now when GO air the very same episodes,they can drag it out for an hour and a half,simply by showing many more ads. I can't be the only one who is dumbfounded by the amount of rubbish reality TV that is on every channel?

I can't disagree with the title but, pay TV is no better. We recently canned it.