Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlatan
The reason Hulu is interesting is that it is co-owned by a number of studios. It is the studios that produce and control much of the content that you want to watch.
Local channels became largely irrelevant years ago when they stopped making local content. Today, you are lucky if they even have a local newscast. Most local channels are just conduits for network content and large syndication companies.
My question is if we head in the direction of content on demand, what happens to the local? Will there be enough demand to create local content? Is it a bad thing to not have a local newcast? Has television gotten better or worse with the loss of local content? In Canada, the networks were often legally mandated as part of their license to use the airwaves, to create x number of local hours per week.
If we head in the direction of VOD... what then? Are we willing to give up local stories? Would you pay for local content if it cost more and didn't look as good as a large studio production?
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I was thinking the same thing about local newscasts, honestly I don't watch them because I'm never home. I would be interested in seeing how the rating stack up, if they're high enough I could see people spending money to purchase a local newscast, if not it may be one of those necessary sacrifices that go along with new technology.
Using the example of the music industry album packaging was at a time almost as important as the music on the album itself. The new technology has made it almost irrelevant, album covers are missed but not enough to sacrifice convince and pricing mp3s give the customer...a necessary sacrifice. (not quite the same but yeah I guess the point comes across)
I'm not sure if we'd be better off without local programming but do they offer enough to keep up? Again a cheaper more efficient cable service may be enough to entice people to look elsewhere (papers, Internet) for local content. Personally I don't think I would pay for a local newscast because I'd never watch it. Local stories are usually in the paper or the online equivalent and you can get weather and sports scores almost anywhere. One thing I think would be lacking is an outlet for special local programming, primarily local sports teams and political debate. Both would have a hard time finding a home and I think local political debates would be especially missed. I don't know its an interesting problem...perhaps a city funded menu for local events?