The questioning of GE CEO Jeff Immelt about selling off NBC Universal needs to stop. Think of more global and long-term inquiries.
There are bigger issues to try and fry.
Massive layoffs and plummeting revenues in the news are only the start. Recession? That would be good news, since this
one isn't exactly like those that happened in 1991 or 2000. It's something much worse.
A depression? Maybe not, but dangerous nevertheless.
What can help? The
thing we sometimes fear most is something we should rally around -- the power of TV's marketing muscle. Forget about green marketing initiatives for the moment -- what cause-related things should
networks be doing to save U.S. viewers' near-term economic well-being?
Sure, all this sounds a little too philanthropic for commercial and revenue-minded TV networks to get their heads
around. But what about the green marketing push of just a few months ago? TV executives would tell you it is needed for the future, even though it's the type of stuff you didn't think TV networks
cared about.
You can take issue with the fact that TV may not be relevant in a few years, that digital platforms will rule the day. But, as has been said, that's a few years from now. At
the same time, executives are seriously thinking that the economy -- as well as TV and advertising in general --
may not recover until a few years from now.
Get the math
picture?
What the TV landscape will look like -- and whether new consumer media platforms grow -- depends directly on what happens in the next 12 months or so, the period where we will be
tested under big-time economic duress
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