We’re in the ratings season now, and honestly, the most interesting programmes on Australian television continue to be imports from Canada (Little Mosque on the Prairie), New Zealand (Outrageous Fortune and Go Girls repeats), the UK (The Bill 2.0: Bleaker than’ eck), and the US (well, The Good Wife and Two and a Half Men—yes, I said it).
Nine has got the Winter Olympics, so we can cut them some minor slack until that wraps up, but Seven has been coasting on the success of its reality programming (Border Security, which should keep Grant Bowler free to do whatever he wants), and Ten seems think that all and sundry still wants to watch Talkin’ Bout Your Generation—despite sliding ratings.
Not much hope for new Australian drama on the horizon it seems.
Well, thanks to Senator Stephen Conroy (the current Communications Minister), that forecast looks to remain unchanged. Conroy apparently had a meeting with Seven’s boss Kerry Stokes in Vail last month, and magically the government gave the Free-to-Air networks a Scrooge McDuck calibre rebate on their TV license fees. (Read Uncle Rupert’s take on the whole fracas here.)
I wouldn’t have a problem with that per se, except for one fact: the networks can do whatever they want with the money to make whatever Australian programming they want.
No restrictions on whether it is for drama/comedy or reality, which could very well lead to yet another year of constant fly-on-the-wall docusoaps creating more disposable sub-lebrities for them to further flog via their magazine divisions.
Oh joy.
2 comments:
I want to know if they telecast programs from America. No doubt the channel will be more popular if they do so. I am not a big fan of Australian channel . But i love the cricket team and the game. So i only watch the game when ever they play. I think people should switch to Dish TV or satellite tv from cable tv. No body can feel the difference without having it. Best of lcuk. Bye.
seems like there must be better ways to encourage local content production (including drama), but i'm not sure what or how.
Post a Comment