Watch The Right Stuff

Onscreen violence

The good news is that the DIY clothes hanger antenna works (thanks, anon@4/01/2014 7:18 PM), the band width was sufficient to pull in the digital broadcast signals. Then one starts to realise that the high definition programming was pathetic. Definitely not enough content to justify the expense for a new full 1080p HDTV with DVB-T2 compliant digital tuner electronics.

And then there were the unexpected cuts. We are talking about the "Karate Kid" movie screened recently, where scenes of Afro-American Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) being roughed up by a mainland Chinese playground bully were snipped off. Yet we have on RazorTV, the uncensored assault of a motorcyclist by an angry Ang Moh on a public road. Right, no bones were broken, so the cops didn't have to come into the picture.

Media Development Authority (MDA) is spending big bucks on another survey in an effort to engage Singaporeans since traditional TV is not doing the job. Last year's poll reported that the 17,000 residents surveyed watched 29.4 hours of programmes on TV, computer and mobile phone every week, 7 hours more than in 2011. The increase was attributed to the expanded distribution of content using online and mobile platforms. There was no data on TV reach alone.

Nielsen’s most recent study indicates that Americans aged 18-24 watched a weekly average of about 22-and-a-half hours during Q4 2013. That was a 47-minute drop-off from Q4 2012, which in turn had been down more than 2 hours from the year before. TV is not dead - yet -  research suggests that online video tends to act as a complement rather than a replacement for traditional TV. But that's American TV.

Here in Singapore, the 5" smartphone or 10" tablet screen is definitely more engaging than a 55" large screen TV.  The difference is that we don't have to watch the "right"  news.