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Dear networks, viewers want escapism too.

This is not an Either / Or situation.

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Ratings for TV News are high at the moment.

But this is not an Either / Or situation.

Since events ramped up in the past week I am seeing more and more readers pleading for entertainment and escapism.

Yes news and information is crucial. We want it when we wake up, we want it at 6pm, and there is room for some analysis / discussion.

But there is a time for Entertainment too.

Like 9 / 11 there was a point where people turned off wall to wall news and looked for something else. Free to Air needs to get the balance right in our schedules (hopefully that’s next week).

Otherwise Streaming services will continue to carve out a bigger slice of evening consumption.

Should networks offer more primetime escapism?

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25 Responses

  2. As an avid news watcher, i have opted to turn most it off, only watching a bit of ABC news to keep informed on what i need to do. Its all too much for me with the blanket coverage. We all deal with it differently i guess.

  3. Yep I was looking forward to Doctor Doctor on Wednesday and then when I turned it on the news was starting which was a bummer! We ended up watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians which we never do lol but I think the escapism factor was what made it appealing.

  4. As i previously noted in other posts, I’m deaf and we along with the blind viewers always get the worst treatment.

    I’m stressed with all the negativity surrounding the coronavirus crisis on all news outlets, and we all could use some escapism. But all the channels especially the digital channels lack captioning. Ch 10 the worst, with will and grace, the middle and others aren’t captioned despite previously so.

    David please you need to help pressure the stations tp fully caption/ audio describe for us. Our mental health is at stake.

    1. These are important points. While ACMA does not compel networks to caption multichannels they won’t (heck they are on the cusp of abandoning Kid’s TV which is mandatory!). If deaf / hearing-impaired viewers want to contribute to a possible story please reach out via Contact page and I’ll be in touch.

    2. I’m deaf too. If you miraculously have captioning via an app on your phone, tablet, etc., and try streaming it via your tv, you no longer have the option of captioning. ABC and SBS have excellent captioning generally, but the commercial channels are very lacking. I’ve emailed some of them and have been told captioning when chromecasting, for example, will be fixed in their next app update. I’m still waiting after numerous updates. Surely it can’t be that hard if it can be done by the ABC and others. Sometimes you need to watch programs on a larger screen to get the effects and story.

  5. I totally agree I need a escape from coronavirus news it’s everywhere it’s all sunrise project now talks about the news is all over my social media accounts it’s too much it’s stressing people out I usually like gogglebox australia but they also keep mentioning the covid 19 Watching more Netflix to escape the news

  6. Thank you David for writing a short, to the point, article about what many people are saying. I work in retail, thankfully not the supermarket variety, and many customers I’m speaking with are fed up with the constant dribble stemming from the main channels and are switching over to streaming services or Foxtel. Networks simply don’t get it. They believe they know what we need but just like those Aussies storming the supermarkets buying what they want instead of what they need we’re all left with very little. Thankfully I have access to Netflix and now Amazon Prime.

  7. Honestly. I think the networks need to play Scomo’s stop hoarding message on a constant loop until every a-hole stops hoarding. My partner and I could barely get enough groceries this week to last a week. we saw older people looking at products they couldn’t afford.

    So no Australia doesn’t deserve any entertainment. i am ashamed to be an Australian at the moment.

  9. We need a balance. COVID-19 is a very serious issue and we need to be continued to be informed about it. However, we do need a balance of entertainment TV as well!

  10. I am getting increasingly frustrated at new coming from the US, in particular today Showtime have announced they plan to push back their programming that’s already filmed and ready to go. It feels like they are underestimating demand for new content with the assumption that they want as much media attention that’s being sucked up.

    It can be understood why Disney wants movies they invested millions to be seen on big screens, but The CW pushing back new episodes and Showtime reducing Black Monday to one episode a week only increases the frustration when escapism is really needed.

    I’d love Foxtel for life if they pushed forward Wentworth 🙂

    1. They have no choice. Looks almost certain now the world is grinding to a standstill for months rather than weeks and they need to avoid running out of content. We will all need to embrace the repeat.

  11. Depends what the alternative is. If there’s not much on offer outside of MAFS and MKR, give me wall-to-wall news.

    Secretly I am thrilled the AFL is going ahead, even though I really don’t think it should be. Something to watch tonight and over the next few days.

  13. I’ve always disliked the “not sure” option in polls e especially with relatively simple questions. The not sure should just be not voting. Without “not sure” the person makes a decision and actually adds to the statistic.

  14. … there’s an interesting story elsewhere today that says “With concern about COVID 19 at an all-time high … Nine has committed to ramping up its news output across the country.” except it then goes on to say that the additional bulletins will air at 8.30pm in Vic, SA & WA but not until “after the NRL” in NSW & Qld – obviously 9 figures the “entertainment” value of football (not to mention the ratings and revenue that goes with it) is more important … in some parts of the country anyway …

  15. There are plenty of multichannels and content in their on demand platforms for those that don’t want to watch endless news (daytime SBS Viceland and ABC News channel excluded obviously).

    2. Was one of the reasons I set my Mum up with a tablet recently so she could watch other things, as she said there are only so many times you can watch repeats of say Midsummer Murders, Murdoch Mysteries and etc., on the multi-channels. So now between having iView, Curiosity Stream and YouTube she is very happy, especially the YouTube ones as she is 81 y/o there are a lot of movies that she hasn’t seen in decades and on their because they’re public domain now.

    3. The multi-channels are very repetitive though. Thinking of those in total lockdown – channels often play the same programs afternoon and then later that night!!

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