I see that the heavily protected free-to-air television industry in Australia is celebrating 50 years---celebrating its glory days of yesteryear from what I can judge. The modern model of free-to-air was three commercail channels and the ABC and SBS, putting ads in the shows, and consumers watching TV on the terms laid down by the corporate media companies.


John Spooner

Today it is cheaper to buy US product off the shelf ---to buy an American series than make an Australian one. Because of the protection a licence to run a commercial television network is, in effect, a licence to print money. The obligation to give something back to the culture was delivered in sport, news and comedy.

In postmodernity an internet-powered future may very well--hopefully--- sideline the need for television networks to distribute moving pictures to a mass audience. With full-time digital streaming of any kind of programming on demand via the internet we will be able to download programmes to our computers and portable media players and use software to strip any advertising out of the recorded programs.