The evolution of media and the pressures that shape it.

Television as we know it is all but extinct. When the creative content of shows is surpassed by the creative content in commercials, there's no reason to watch the shows.

Geico, Dos Equis  and Capital One's commercials offer greater entertainment value than 80% of the shows on television. Combine the effects of DVRs and TiVo and the house of cards is ready to come down.

When HBO  offered the Sopranos and other high quality dramas, their subscriptions were robust. Showtime picked up the ball and ran with it by producing Dexter and Weeds. When HBO went back to old movies and Bill Maher the revenues receded.

Steve Martin, in talking about his early career, explain that he was hired to stand on stage and  perform routine for an empty nightclub. His pay was nominal, and the audience in most cases was smaller still. The club owner wanted anybody that wandered off the street to see “activity”. Having Martin on stage provided the illusion  necessary to have  patrons sit down and be served drinks.

The networks are in the same kind of trap. Going dark, in their minds, is not an option. Providing 168 hours of programming each week is exhausting. It is also expensive. As the quality of shows has declined, the audience has found other venues for their leisure hours.

Video games and the internet provide on-demand entertainment with minimal commercial interruptions. Factor in Netflix and YouTube and traditional television can't compete. Their belief that they need  “a wild and crazy guy” blabbering on stage is  advancing a strategy that leads to bankruptcy.

The tipping point is very close. The uncertainty surrounding a national debt  equal to the annual productivity of our entire economy, nationalized healthcare and bankrupt states and municipalities are fodder for legislators to attempt to increase taxation. If the money goes to taxes instead of employees, the economy will continue to burp instead of digest the creative talent of its citizenry.

In addition to restricting development and creation of new products industry will be heartfelt to continue advertising in a nonproductive medium. Without cash, the networks go the way of the brontosaurus, public libraries, the cotton gin and chastity.

Pay-per-view and subscription programming is the future. Providing the consumer with the option of watching what they want, when they want to watch it, works.

With creative types able to sell their talents directly to the market, the best and brightest will continue to provide multimedia entertainment in a more efficient and elegant marketplace.