Nagging problems TV people should resolve to solve

AS OUR TV networks launch their 2016 season, we have lined up some key New Year’s resolutions related to problems we hope industry leaders and workers will resolve to solve:

Topping our list is what many viewers are complaining about— the apparently excessive number of commercials now being aired on popular TV programs!

There’s a stipulated limit to the number of commercial minutes per hour, but it appears to be practised more in the breach than the observance.

Alert, proactive

Some viewers grumble that it sometimes feels like “two minutes of show followed by five minutes of commercials”—so, alert and proactive viewers should time a program’s components to prove that this is what’s really happening.

Some years ago, one such dedi- cated viewer went out of his way to time TV shows, and the results did verify viewers’ doubts and fears.

Related to this is our wish that government and private regulatory bodies become much more zealous in 2016 in upholding prescribed and proscribed commercial limits, so viewers’ right to “more content than advertisements” is stringently upheld.

Promotional gambits

In addition to actual TV commercials, even more airtime is taken up by other “promotional” gambits—network and program plugs, trailers, and “soft” endorsements like on-cam TV talents’ plugs and “mentions” for specific products and services.

Indeed, some viewers can’t be blamed for feeling hugely exploited by some TV people who profess to love them to bits, but are actually out to make as much money out of their clueless patronage as possible.

Next, TV workers should keep reminding themselves that they’re supposed to provide a public ser

vice, which is why recipients of TV franchises sign an agreement with government to not just entertain, but also inform, educate and come up with special “niche” programs, especially for children and minority audiences.

Ignored, flouted

Again, this official agreement is often ignored and flouted, so the relevant government agencies have to do their job much better.

Finally, TV networks should disallow their news and public affairs personnel from doing testimonials and endorsements for products and services, because it erodes their all-important objectivity and credibility.

What about you, dear reader, what are the reforms and improvements you’d like to see implemented on the TV screen in 2016?