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This is the second part of a multipart analysis on the state of broadcast networks today. Part one can be found here: I imagine many of you are like me. I missed out on a lot on TV in the late 1990’s and 2000’s. My kids were young. First all our TV had on was Teletubbies. Then Elmo. Then Powerpuff Girls. Then Spongebob. Now its iCarly. Mom and Dad get two hours of programming a night, and we’ve spent the last few years catching up nightly with shows on the DVR. I never saw Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Angel. Smallville. Battlestar Galatica. How I Met Your Mother. Firefly. Roswell. Flight Of The Conchords. Dexter. Mad Men, etc. I could barely keep up with my must see shows like The West Wing, The X-Files, and name that Star Trek franchise. The CSI procedural (Las Vegas) that I once enjoyed was tossed three years ago because there wasn’t time. There’s been a solution for my dilemma for a few years now. TV on DVD. Now I can finally catch up on all those old shows I missed that people I know online rave about and it’ll take me less time since there are no commercials. I can breeze through a third of a season in an afternoon. It’s a win for me because I get my second chance and it’s a win for TV studios that produced the show since I’m either purchasing their DVD or renting from Netflix, who did purchase their DVD. Except there’s one problem. If I watch those in that two hour window I have every night or the occasional free weekend day, plus my current must see shows like Supernatural or Chuck, do I have time for any new network shows? Is FlashForward worth a space on my already packed DVR which only gets relieved during times of repeats? V? Fringe? Modern Family? Sadly, the answer is no. Live TV viewing isn’t possible anymore. My dilemma is one of the reasons broadcast television networks are pleading poverty. There seems to be a common point of blame: the business model. That’s certainly true, but it’s not because they solely rely on advertising for revenue and advertising revenue is down. It’s the result of years of corporate consolidation. Looking back at revenue for the last 25 years, what’s happening is just the latest trend in chasing the next best thing.
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