I think it follows much of what we hear here, that many of us watch the SD subchannel reruns as much or more than the new stuff on the main channels.
Gosh, not me. We ditched BBC America because it wasn't in HD (and instead we're catching Torchwood, this week as a matter of fact, on BD).
Also note that revenues and viewership don't necessarily parallel each other (but still, revenues is all that matters, so even if viewership wasn't off as much as revenues, that wouldn't make any different to broadcasters).
This goes back to my belief, besides those that own home multimedia centers and rent movies based on resolution, there is a huge audience that bases their viewing on content.
Well, I think everyone does to some extent, but when there is so much good stuff out there, and so many alternative choices to choose from (including discs, web surfing, Wii, etc.), people can be pickier.
And content to me is way down across the board.
I disagree. I think this past year has had some of the best television ever presented. The last six or seven years, omitting the year of the strike, surely, has been far better than any six or seven year period in the last forty years, at least, IMHO. Start from Mad Men, work your way through the HBO and Showtime series, Lost, BSG, and even the nighttime soaps have been better than the nighttime soaps of yesteryear.
The only genre that hasn't been in its prime the last six or seven years is comedy.
In the last few years it kept waning and waning, until this summer I am watching less TV than ever.
By contrast, the backlog on our DVR has been consistently high. We've got more than enough stuff to keep us busy through August and into September. There is a week in September when thing will be a little thin (we'll watch the Harry Potter BDs my wife just bought, that week, I suspect), and then the backlog starts building again. By my projections, we'll hit 100 hours of backlog by Thanksgiving (and at that time we'll have to off-load some of the stuff onto our media server, so there is enough room to record the series that we're actively watching).
The Networks cloned Reality Shows, NCSI has clones, and now the detective shows with people that have special skills, like Lie to Me.
Lie to Me is excellent, as is the Mentalist, and Bones. Oh! and NCIS too! I'd put those four shows up against any four shows in the same genre in the same year in the last forty years.
But it's over and over and over of cloning of the same type show that is hurting ratings.
Except that's not all that is being presented. Just over the next year, you've got Lost, and Mad Men, and Desperate Housewives, and Eureka, and Chuck, and Heroes, and Leverage, and House, and 24, and Legend of the Seeker, and the Prisoner (mini-series), and Caprica, and Fringe, etc. -- all unique one from the other, and all very entertaining in their own way.
This is assuredly the best television has ever been AFIAC.
