Sponsor's Message

In a speech given in parliament yesterday, Helen laid into Telecom's poor performance in respect to their DSL services and promised Kiwis that they would see some action on the part of government as a matter of priority.

Well call me a cynic but I'll believe it when I see it.

But enough about this, today I want to write about this story in today's NZ Herald.

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I know that I've complained in the past about the relentless decline in the quality of TV programmes and I've also bitched about the levels of advertising, well it seems that I'm not alone.

To be fair, there's quite a bit of "boring old fart" factor in the list of those who are whining about such things (myself included) so I think we probably have to bear this in mind when considering the veracity of the claims being made.

Indeed, I didn't see any young people on the list of those who put their name to the list of "31 prominent New Zealanders" so aggrieved about the current situation.

Ed Hillary, Ian Johnstone et al, are claiming that contemporary TV isn't a patch on that screened in the olden-days when they were young -- but are they right?

Could it not be that the audience has changed and broadcasters are simply following suit? Would today's 18-25-year-olds really want to watch Close to Home, one of the programmes mentioned by the old fogies?

One area where I think the complainants do have a point however, is the level of advertising we're submitted to.

On the few occasions that I've found some suitable "boring old fart" programme that might be worth watching (Doc Martin, Dragon's Den, etc), I'm almost driven to distraction by the number and duration of ad-breaks that are thrust upon me.

Now that TV on your mobile phone seems to be all set to become the next big thing, I wonder if this will also be ad-funded to some degree?

Right now you're thinking that nobody in their right mind would actually pay to watch TV with ads right? Well look at all those folks who spend as much as $100 per month to get Sky TV! Look also at how much the level of advertising has risen since Sky originally launched with claims that it was a low-advertising alternative.

Yeah, people are stupid.

Sorry, but if TVNZ or any other broadcaster really want to get me in front of a screen then there's only one thing that'll do it now, and (conveniently) this would be a programme that killed two birds with one stone.

I'm talking of course of naked celebrity mud wrestling.

The first bout would (naturally) be Theresa versus Helen. These two could go into battle over control of the DSL network. Talk about classic horror footage!

What's more, instead of including annoying ad-breaks we could just tattoo sponsors' messages on their flabby white bodies.

Now that's entertainment viewers of all ages could enjoy, isn't it?

What do you think? Is Helen just joining in the sabre-rattling that her government seems so adept at? Have TV standards really fallen? Is there too much advertising? Would you watch NZ's most powerful women going head to head in a tub full of mud or jelly?

Tell us all and see what others have to say in The Aardvark Forums

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