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It seems that modern television broadcasting has been dumbed down to just a few choices which consist of: reality TV shows, home improvement shows, forensic dramas, repeats of reality TV shows, repeats of home improvement shows and repeats of forensic dramas.

Is this really the preferred fare of your average Kiwi of an evening?

Well I realise that I'm probably far from average -- but I'm hearing an increasing number of friends despair at the tedium this almost total lack of innovation on the part of content producers and programmers represents.

It would not surprise me if we see "Survivor Otara" being produced locally with funding from NZ On Air as part of the broadcasting charter -- or maybe a drama series called "Auckland City Morgue"?

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While some may see this tedious TV as a problem, I see it as an opportunity.

If TV producers and programmers can't come up with decent material, maybe it's time for the Net to come into its own as a content delivery vehicle.

Could "the next big thing" be locally produced TV programming that breaks away from the reality TV genre and is distributed over the Net?

Might this be the only way for the "thinking Kiwi" to get his or her hands on some truly interesting and relevant programming?

If Telecom continues to aggressively market broadband (and there's little doubt they will) then such content would become instantly available to a rapidly growing audience. What's more, if you gave viewers the option of downloading and burning a VCD or SVCD image and authorised the free distribution of such CDRs then the audience would become many times larger.

But how do you make money out of such a proposal?

The same way as free-to-air TV does -- put ad-breaks in the programs and charge advertisers for the privilege of appearing in those breaks or sponsoring the programs. Considering that most TV broadcasters have already sold their entire ad-inventory for the next one or two quarters, I suspect there'd be a good line of advertisers who'd take a punt on this.

So now all we need are entrepreneurial program producers to take the bold step of creating innovative, interesting content designed specifically for Net distribution.

This sounds like a great opportunity for all those budding "wannabe" producers to chance their arms. Who knows, a successful Net-release could result in some *real* TV work coming your way.

So readers, what kind of locally produced Net-distributed video programs would you like to be able to download, and do you think this idea would fly?

Hey, how about "Cyber-Survivor" or "Pimp my PC" (ugh!).

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