Wednesday, August 16, 2006

When a ticket for the cluetrain isn't enough

Today's addition to the list of people who piss me off and are going to pay the price one day is Australia's Channel 10. These morons are a classic example of why the majority of existing media entities are living on borrowed time. I was going to say they have no idea what the future is bringing but these clueless fuckwits have no idea about the world today.

Their latest bit of stupidity that has pushed me over the edge is that they have decided to run season 2 of the mind-bendingly fantastic Battlestar Galactica a year after in ran in the US. It pisses me off enough that they waited this long to run it but they are screening this first-run series that has a fanatical fan base at 11pm. With no advertising.

So in a world where you can download episodes legally from the SciFi channel website, download them illegally from the various P2P services and buy the DVD from international websites, these fuckwits make this mind-numbingly stupid decision. And then they wonder why people are downloading pirated material from the net. Listen, you idiots: the days when you can treat your audience like shit are rapidly disappearing. You are no longer the only source of information and entertainment. For younger generations you are not even the primary source. You have massive resources at your disposal and if you would only learn how to use them properly you could build a new future for yourself.

What do you need to make you wake up? Do you need a clock on the wall counting down the hours until all the baby boomers are dead? That's about the time you have left to dominate the media landscape. I try to refrain from talking about the net and "user generated content" taking over the world because most of the cheerleaders of this movement are, quite frankly, delusional. But when major media group make a succession of stupid decisions it's hard not to see the writing on the wall.

Personally, I bought the BSG Season 2.0 DVD on Amazon about 6 months ago even though this is technically illegal because of stupid fucking laws that don't make any fucking sense. Why the fuck should buying the DVD be illegal? To protect Channel 10? I'm not staying up until 11pm just to watch a TV show. The producers etc. of the original show all got their money from me so fuck Channel 10. Can you tell yet how pissed off I am?

Another thing these morons at Channel 10 do that pisses me off is they refuse to allow the cable service, Foxtel, to include their programme schedule on Foxtel's digital programme guide. So when I flick through the 50-odd Foxtel channels to see what's on, I get a blank on Channel 10. I can watch the channel but I can't see what's coming up. I have no idea why these fuckwits do this (Channel 7 does it too). I can only assume they have some sort of idea that by limiting the utility of Foxtel, they are protecting their own interests.

Well, geniuses, the practical result is I never fucking watch your channel because I never fucking know what's on. And yes, paper based TV guides are too much trouble. Why the fuck should I indulge your stupid attitude? Channel 10 actually screens some of the best shows on commercial television but I never see them any more. This is a slow drawn-out suicide. Someone should put these clueless idiots out of their misery.

And to hell with buying them a ticket for the Cluetrain. That's too subtle for these idiots. I'm going around with the Clue Sledgehammer (tm) to pound some sense into their thick fucking skulls.

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