I just read an article on the struggle for local content on tv. It was a good article articulating some of the issues facing our local TV stations. I personally have been frustrated by the lack of great content on tv. Most of our TV stations specialize in Mexican and Philipino soaps. There is usually a Philippino soap at 6, some local content at 730, then a Mexican soap at 8 and at 930. Turn to another broadcaster and you will find the same thing.
Growing up I loved watching TV. There was such a variety of things to watch. There were cartoon, news items, series, comedies both local and international. I looked forward to going home to watch tv. In fact when I was in high school I couldn’t wait to close school so that I could come home and watch the series which caught my eye at the time like Renegade.
I am in the demography that should be addicted to soaps. I do believe in love, and romance and all that jazz. But there is something like taking a good thing too far. When the Mexican soaps first came we were all fascinated. There was something different about them. Not the usual American soaps that never seemed to end. But over time those programs have come to overtake any other kind of content.
Now I can’t be bothered to watch TV. In fact the only day that I for sure watch TV is on Sunday. This is a form of bonding with my family. Most other days I would rather watch the series that is making me happy at the time. Just a few days ago that was the blacklist.
I think our TV stations have become very lazy. They have come up with a cheap and easy way to get to a part of the population. Women like soaps right. That may be true but not all of us want to watch them all the time. What they don’t realize is a significant population does not watch this soaps. The men switch off and go off to the bar to watch their matches or they switch on their computers or second tv and watch something else. Some of the women walk away as well.
I want variety. As I said I love romance, but I love action, drama, suspense, thrillers, Sci Fi too. So when the local TV stations are not offering me that I move somewhere else. I am not alone. There are many of us. TV stations keep boasting about their viewers but they should know many of us are switching off our TVs to watch something else.
It is not only about the soaps. If your household is like mine the TV may be mostly on one channel. You will find that week in week out they are showing the same local programs. Some of the productions are getting stale because there are no new ideas. Local TV stations need to do what international broadcasters do. Have a season for a program or comedy. Then give it a break for people to get a new season of something else. We don’t do that hence some of the programs lose their punch and flavor. Great actors may leave to star in new productions; great scriptwriters may leave as well as they watch their careers stagnate.
We need new ideas, new shows. We need shows that will make us leave the bar, the office or school to run home to watch a program. A program like don’t mess with Kansiime. But if we keep having the same shows with the same storylines, the TV stations slowly lose the audience. The audience may start buying dvds to watch at home, then series, then they even stop watching TV for the news because they can watch it on their phones. Then advertisers stop coming and start advertising on the net.
Our stations have lost their fragrant flavor. Have you smelt a rose recently? The roses are beautiful but they do not have that scent that used to attract one to them. In the end a rose is still a rose but without the scent there is nothing to enjoy.
