Reading today's hometown newspaper, the TV Highlights column at left caught my attention. For a long time our local paper had included in reviews and recommendations non broadcast video sources such as HBO and Netflix, but this was the first time that I, at least, noticed a nonsubscription streaming service such as Crackle - "Your source for free streaming entertainment". Now Crackle in some ways is not that different than YouTube, in that both offer free video, sometimes with advertising.


But now a major newspaper is placing them in the same category as NAB members and multibillion dollar HBO and Netflix. Wow!


Then I noticed the tweet below from @bcbeat = Broadcasting & Cable magazine. Those of us who have been along for a while remember when Broadcasting magazine, the predecessor of today's Broadcasting & Cable, under the late Sol Taishoff, was the TV broadcasting industry's biggest cheerleader. It didn't cover broadcasting news, if was more like today's Fox News' relationship with conservative Republicans and Sol played the Rupert Murdoch role. Today B&C includes "cable" in its name, dropped all coverage of radio broadcasting, and is owned by NewBay Media, a publishing firm also in several other areas of media business publications.

After HBO, which network won the second-most awards at the 2015 Primetime Emmys? Take our annual News Quiz: https://t.co/6CbDnrQkQ2

— Broadcasting & Cable (@bcbeat) December 29, 2015

Note that the B&C tweet very visibly reminds readers of the embarrassing detail, reported previously here, that mainstream OTA broadcasters are getting smaller and smaller shares of the annual Emmys. Who knows, maybe Crackle will become eligible soon?

Then I was listening to NPR last week and heard a story from their TV reviewer:

When it came to new programming, broadcast TV didn't impress critic David Bianculli much this year. But if you add in cable and streaming services, then the story changes.

All told, cable and streaming made it "another great year for TV," Bianculli tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. The year was so good, in fact, Bianculli says he could have made a Top 20 or even a Top 30 list, but in keeping with tradition, he has narrowed it down to 10 — OK, fine, 11 — picks:

Bianculli's picks are here. They include "The only show from broadcast TV on my Top 10" - The Good Wife as #4. AMC and FX had 3 shows each, Comedy Central 2 , and Amazon and Showtime had 1 each.

So with the incentive auction coming up, we hope industry will consider why there is a flurry of such news stories. Is it a CTIA conspiracy or is it just the "writing on the wall"?




UPDATE

Concerned that we are unfairly dissing the content of OTA TV?

I was watching NBC's Today Show New Year's morning on my DVR. (See, I do watch some OTA! But usually on my DVR since most of the commercials are so annoying.) At 7:42 AM they had a segment on "What to Watch For in TV, Music, & Movies" in 2016. The person interviewed was Ms. Meeta Agrawal, Deputy Editor of Entertainment Weekly. Her recommendation for TV: USA Network's Mr. Robot.

Now I realize that USA Network is part of the same NBCUniversal that brings you the Today Show and owns the NBC affiliate in DC, but with a straight face could they have mentioned some OTA show as something great to watch for 2016? Despite all the great cheering from NAB and the kowtowing from FCC commissioners, isn't OTA TV losing to other video alternatives because of the quality of the programming they offer - independent of any spectrum policy issues?

Tags: broadcasting, incentive Auction