Take Risks

TAKE RISKS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] We agree it's tougher these days for producers and writers. The networks now control more programming than ever, and that may mean fewer creative voices are heard. It may even be true that network ownership leads to more formulaic programming. But they are their networks, and in a world of boundless entertainment choices, no wonder the Big Four want a good cut of the action. We have to believe the future for professional writers and producers is one tiny techno-hop away. And even with the big networks clawing their way in, the very near future is going to create broadband audiences that will seek out and pay for creative content. Networks that are too heavy-handed or slow to recognize the shift will lose out to nimbler media. Those Big Four networks might learn that being big isn't always so good. We love the entrepreneurs and risk-takers in this business, on every rung of the ladder. Ted Turner was a billboard-company owner with a big idea. For that matter, more than 80 years ago, William Paley was a cigar-seller who liked the way radio moved merchandise. Hooray for the little guy who gets rich. It can still happen. But these days, it might not be by getting the time slot right after Lost. It might be by creating content on a site yet to be found.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6378929.html?display=Opinion