Has the "Multichannel Era" killed off quality Television?

Yes.

Not just in this country either- look at Cheers, that did badly in its first season, but they gave it a chance and it ended up becoming hugely successful and ran for 11 years, then spun-off Frasier which ran for ANOTHER 11 years. These days it would have been axed after only a few episodes, so that would have been over 20 years of hugely successful and profitable TV that would never have happened.

Quantity over quality. Nuff said.

It depends on which time slot it was given? it there pushed something out on a big slot and it bomb it would, but there are plenty of shows which pop up else where do poorly like community and still get a new series.

No.

You have to make a bit more effort these days, but there's enough quality television if you look beyond the linear channels, while the main channels still have at least one decent programme per year, depending on your taste.

Television like radio has diversified giving more choice than ever, but there is something for everyone. It's not like 1985 when a Sunday night had programming for older people on BBC One and not much else on 2, ITV and C4.

Nope. Every decade has had its fair amount of sh.ite programmes.

There is an argument that the more fragmented market actually allows more quality shows to be made as the ratings demands on them aren't anything like they used to be - ITV infamously used to set 10m as the bench mark for their shows otherwise the axe would be hovering.

Admitedly than can be a double edged sword - I think for a period ITV and C4 both accepted shows which rated fairly mediocrely and convinced themselves that it was the TV landscape, not the shows themselves, responsible for the ratings. However I think ITV at least have now come out of the otherside - Downton kind of changed things for them and showed that dramas can pull in huge ratings and they don't have to settle for 4m. I suspect ITV's expectations are slightly higher than they were 5-6 years ago - and viewers expectations certainly are.

The other side of the coin is funding of course - and we're seeing far more international productions as a result.

Newly produced Kids TV really has gone downhill in recent years. Gone are the days when Kids of the 90's would be thrilling themselves with shows from the likes of Steven Spielberg namely Animaniacs; Pinky and the Brain and so forth. Now you have people making Kids TV shows with the likes of a thing called CGI and more importantly with PC Liberal elements thrown in for ''good'' measure.

Sport is not as plentiful either if you don't pay for a subscription event on Sky or Virgin Media. Sport in terms of live events via FTA channels are severely lacking in variety, quality and quantity. We are thankful that events like the RWC, the Six Nations, Wimbledon, some of the FA Cup matches on the BBC are staying on FTA TV for a few years at least.

The amount of people who subscribe to Amazon Prime or Netflix has had a negative effect on linear TV figures for various shows. TV viewership figures are not reaching all time highs today like they had in the past. The amount of people streaming TV is growing substantially over the past few years for those who can afford high speed internet access. And because of that this move makes the TV market more fractured to a large degree in terms of what to watch and how you pay for it. A TV service which could be namely online can have more chances of having first run international rights of a TV show instead of being given to a linear TV channel.

The hardest thing for broadcasters today is they have to be in competition with the internet which has the quickest and cheapest TV options out there with a touch of your fingertips on a laptop, on a PC whatever. They are various different options out there that people that can have the rights to access and try out for free or pay a subscription if they so wish.

The answer is yes. When digital TV was on its way, we assumed television would continue to be the alpha medium. Then the internet and social media came along. The more channels mean the already reduced audience is spread more thinly and so most of the channels adopt a low risk strategy of popular repeats, cheap to make but relatively popular reality TV shows or just import American stuff. I do wonder about the long term future with regard to broadcast TV, outside of live events. People are getting increasingly accustomed to watching things on demand pretty much whenever they want.

*smiles sweetly*

I agree. US drama has come on in leaps and bounds these last few years, Breaking Bad was
not only a good multi-layered series, it was also a cinematic marvel. I can't think of anything
we have done that matches it ?

Bless.