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Some, like TV3, make a very token gesture towards establishing a web presence, offering little more than basic programme listings and some bits that don't even seem to work properly (try the left-hand menu options on this page.

TV1 and TV2 (now integrated into TVNZ.co.nz have never really spun my wheels I'm afraid.

I really don't know what it is about NZOOM or its sequel, but these pages just don't engage -- perhaps it's the wishy-washy colours or the cluttered juxtaposition of news, listings, advertising and self-promotions -- I don't know.

I'm sure they've got lots of information in there -- but it's just not a site that draws me in to look any further than the front page.

Perhaps the one area in which they are most sadly deficient is news.

If TVNZ/OneNews really want to make their news-site work (for me) they have to try a lot harder to keep their content up to date.

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By 8am in the morning, their pages contain *yesterday's* news (not news but "olds") and while that's fine if you simply want to catch up with what was on the 6 o'clock bulletin last night, it's not really useful for staying up to the minute with what's going on.

But what about Prime TV?

Well, having committed to some $3m over three years in order to lure Paul Holmes away from his sweet job at TVNZ, you'd think that Prime would also be working hard to establish a strong and effective web-presence for this channel.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that their website is nicely laid out and easy to use, it contains a dearth of information.

When they launched their "First at Five-thirty" news programme they did make a token effort to engage Net users by way of a daily poll but, alas, that soon fell by the wayside as a result of embarrassingly poor voting numbers.

I wonder if, given their renewed thrust to grow their audience, they will now revisit their online presence and use it like the powerful tool it can be.

As we all know, Prime is an arm of Australia's Channel 9 which, across the Tasman, is in bed with Microsoft. Between the two of them, they've produced the NineMSN web presence which is a comprehensive (but unattractive) news and information portal.

Of course here in New Zealand, Microsoft and Telecom/Xtra are web-buddies who have spawned the equally comprehensive but unappealing XtraMSN website so Prime is out of luck if they were hoping to strike the same deal with MS.

I wonder however, whether we might not see some kind of relationship appear in which Prime, Telecom and Microsoft form a menage a trois? I suspect that the existing deal between TVNZ and XtraMSN might scuttle such an idea however.

But could Prime really gain much from embracing the Net as a vehicle for boosting its ratings?

Hell yes!

When I launched 7am News back in 1997 there was far less potential but that became the most popular news site of its type anywhere in the world and showed just what you can do with some good ideas and little more than lunch-money for funding.

With the massive hike in the online population, improved technology and a growing thirst for online news and information, I know for sure that getting an innovative and effective Net presence in place could have an incredible effect on any broadcaster's ratings.

In fact, I really wish I was still at the controls of 7amNews because I have a huge fist-full of ideas that I know would be winners in what is now a very competitive marketplace.

What's more, there are now many new revenue streams that can be associated directly with such a presence so it need not be a cost-centre -- it can actually contribute positively to a broadcaster's bottom line while also acting as a very powerful marketing tool for that broadcaster's core product.

In fact I remain astonished at the total lack of innovation and creative thought that has gone into our broadcasters' Net presence. Without exception they're still using the Net as a combinations of electronic paper and very slow television. The first one to actually leverage its strengths will get a very pleasant shock indeed.

It will be very interesting to see whether Prime is smart enough to actually step outside the box and really take *real* advantage of the Net to hike its ratings and seriously take on TVNZ and TV3

Unfortunately, I strongly suspect that, like so many broadcasters, Prime really don't "get" the Net and will see it as just a necessary evil rather than a valuable component of a balanced strategy for marketing itself to an audience that is increasingly living "online" rather than "on-air".

That's a shame.

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