Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) @ConnecTechAsia Show News - Day 1 | Page 34
34 TUESDAY
@ConnecTechAsia2018
26 June 2018
www.apb-news.com
Does terrestrial FTA TV have a place in
tomorrow’s connected world?
BY GRAHAM STEPHENS
My parents got their first TV set in
1960. It sat in the corner of the liv-
ing room and churned out what we
now call linear multi-channel (two
channels actually, in monochrome)
from about 4pm to midnight week-
days, and mid-day to midnight on
weekends.
Audience segmentation was
the order of the day, with children
programming before the 6pm early
evening news, “prime time” com-
edy and soaps until 9pm or 10pm,
when the main news bulletin and
adults-only “post watershed” pro-
gramming were aired until the close
of transmission.
Although my childhood took
place in the UK, I would guess that
this format is familiar across most of
the world, with minor local variations.
Appointment to view was absolute. If
you have not seen the latest episode
of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
or Dallas, you were an outcast in
class the following day. Audiences of
20 million or more for popular pro-
grammes were commonplace.
The UK commercial channels had
combined advertising revenues of £5
million per day. Holding a commercial
TV franchise was a “licence to print
money”, according to one TV boss.
Today, 50 years on, terrestrial TV
channels are fighting a plethora of
competition for eyeballs, initially from
cable TV and latterly, over-the-top
(OTT). Appointment to view is no
more, with personal video recorder
(PVR) and on-demand taking its
place. TV of any variety no longer has
the ability to ‘wow’ its audience — its
place has been taken by a resurgence
of cinema.
Should we care? Unless we make
a living in the medium, probably
not. Terrestrial linear TV has its place,
showing local news, current affairs
and minority interest sports that the
other platforms have little interest in
covering. But these can be expensive
to produce and the goings-on at the
local town hall and a squash or sepak
takraw competition are not going to
pay for the studio and transmission
infrastructure needed, as govern-
ments get ever more greedy and
auction off valuable UHF spectrum
to the cash-rich telcos. So, schedules
will be filled up with cheap re-runs of
archive material and third-rate mov-
ies that went straight to DVD. This is
hardly a formula for success.
The only bright spot in the cur-
rent schedules is the rise of localised
versions of popular gameshows and
talent shows. These have an appoint-
ment to view factor that the compe-
tition cannot match. But even these
will eventually suffer viewer fatigue;
terrestrial channels must then start to
look elsewhere.
I would suggest that the salvation
of terrestrial TV could well be by look-
ing at what made them popular in the
first place. Forget Netflix and Amazon,
and their huge production budgets.
Good writing and drama, soap or sit-
uation comedy that reflects local cus-
toms, are key. Nurture home-grown
talent and get people talking about
last night’s primetime programming.
You do not need 100 channels — in
fact, the fewer the better, as you go
for quality rather than quantity.
TV did not kill radio, radio just
re-invented itself as linear segmented
in-car entertainment. Likewise, trying
to be a poor relation of the big boys
will not save you. Stay mass market
but know what your addressable
market is and play to your strengths
— free-to-air (FTA), no rain fade, no
subscription, and near universal cov-
erage within your own country. Get
people talking about your original
programming and do not be afraid
to experiment with new young artists,
writers and cut-
ting-edge for-
mats adapted to
local tastes.
Then, terres-
trial FTA TV will
truly thrive in
today’s crowded
media space.
Graham Stephens is CTO, Media City
Development, Malaysia. He is also an APB
panellist.