Media Consolidation Not so Bad

MEDIA CONSOLIDATION NOT SO BAD
[SOURCE: TheDeal, AUTHOR: Matthew Wurtzel]
[Commentary] From the average TV viewers perspective this fall media consolidation doesn't seem so bad after all. Despite a group of Hollywood personalities crying over the last decade of consolidation claiming it has led to homogenized content on TV, a quick scan of the TV listings this season suggests they maybe wrong. The amount of independently produced content has declined, but the quality of TV has increased. While technology has made effects easier and cheaper to produce, arguably big media ownership also allowed writers and directors to make bigger splashes thanks to the bigger budgets. Take ABC’s hit “Lost” as an example. Its spectacular intro involving the crash of a commercial airline may have never been possible without Disney’s budget. In short, it would seem that media consolidation may have ushered in a new golden age of television.
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