DAVID GYNGELL: I’d love 1993 again. I’d love to be back before Foxtel was here. I’d love to be back with three networks. I’d love to be sitting here, and who cares if the audience complains and who cares if we put a bad show on, they have to watch it anyway. That, that was the world, but the fact is that, that’s not the world. That’s not the world in any industry.

David Gyngell, CEO, Network Nine, 25th March, 2015

On the ABC show media watch this week Paul Barry interviewed David Gyngell and discussed the future of free to air television.  David Gyngell was quite optimistic about the future for free to air but admitted there is more heavier competition to deal with now.  He mentioned that it is the consumers now that have the power of choice when it comes to media content.  Free to air television networks can’t simply feed rubbish on the screens anymore.  There are too many alternatives now for people to choose including services like Netflix, Quickflix, Apple Tv, Foxtel and so on.  The three major networks ten, seven and nine have to produce quality content to attain their viewers.  Otherwise viewer numbers will go down which in turn causes revenue loss from advertisers.

David also made the point that there is still a big demand for local news content that can’t be obtained in foreign online streaming content.  He mentioned that channel nine have invested heavily in news content to try and keep their audiences.  He also said that producers and journalists will always be in demand to film and cover local news content.  Blogging can’t purely exist if the story hasn’t been produced in the first place.  David’s opinion was you can’t have an industry full of bloggers giving opinion based on who’s gathered the information to give them an opinion.  People can’t watch breaking content with moving picture on Facebook or Twitter.

Sport and reality shows unfortunately manage to get the highest ratings in free to air television.  But I think there is definitely an audience for Australian made content telling Australian stories.  If there is quality Australian drama, people will watch it.  For example the tv series ‘The Slap’ had solid tv ratings and was then produced in America for their audiences.  The networks should invest more money in quality Australian drama or comedy made by local talent.  I don’t think free to air television can last if they continue to go down the model of producing cheap reality shows and paying mega dollars for sports content.  Otherwise the Netflix boss’s prediction of free to air television going extinct by 2030 just might become a reality.