Overkill

GulfNews reports today on the 'mainstream media' madness prevalent in Sandlands today in an interview with Samir Abdul Hadi of Orbit Television.

One of the questions: "Why isn't there more [original television] programming from the Middle East?"

The answer: "The short answer is that there isn't enough money in the kitty to produce enough content for the 295 Arabic free-to-air channels.

As I mentioned earlier, most TV networks rely solely on advertising revenues. A $400 million a year in gross advertising revenues actually translate to less than $275 million of net revenues to TV networks. If we simply do that math, this equates to less than $1 million per channel per year.

To put things in perspective, a blockbuster western movie in a FTA window could easily cost over $65,000 (that's two hours of entertainment repeated few times). Good quality live shows with live audience costs over $50,000 per episode."

I can't argue with that. And it explains why the mind-set of 'mainstream media' has to change to embrace content made and delivered in new ways.