A Brand New Kind Of TV Season: The Retransmission-Blackout Season
Seems like the end of the year is now the time for cable operators, TV station groups and cable networks to get their business-war gear on. Big TV marketing campaigns can be waged by each side -- almost to the levels of starting up new shows.
This is the time when Bowl Championship Series college football games; New Year Eve's special event programming; big-time award shows; and the start of shows such as "American Idol" -- all seem in jeopardy.
Perhaps we all need a break. Shut down our TVs for a winter snooze, and prod them gently for wake-up in February and March, when the networks typically ramp up a rash of original series episodes. If not a complete rest, then perhaps we need to cut back a bit -- since regular season programs on broadcast networks, for the most part, go into hibernation in December and January.
Maybe we all need to get caught up on other entertainment -- movies, past TV shows, limited serial dramas we may have missed, electronic books -- or even some Wii Fit exercise games.
Some believe the Federal Communications Commission should step in to stop transmission blackouts, forcing these powerful companies into a cooling-down period or mediation.
Why bother? We can do our own voluntary cooling-off period -- which would mean less pressure on network programming executives.
What better Christmas present can we give those hard-working TV staffers who are only looking out for our entertainment needs?
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WAYNE FRIEDMAN
Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost.
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Black em all out AFAIC. I haven't had cable for nearly four years now. Don't miss it at all!
Quite the cynic today.