Whats on TV? 102 channels and nothing to see

Found a funny stat from the Economist (21 July 2007). Apparently the average American TV viewer has access to 102 channels.

102 channels? So when you look at the Electronic Program Guide, and you read whats on any one channel, in 30 minutes you spend about 17 seconds per channel - and it takes you the full half hour just to scroll across all 102 channels. By the time you decide what program to watch - its already over...

So the number of channels is splintering even with the 5th Mass Media (TV) so we have ever less time to devote to any one channel. Then we fast-forward past the ads and the boring bits of our shows, and rush to spend ever more time with interactive mass media..

Comments

[Alan moore]

It was old Brucey Springsteen that wrote all those years ago 57 channels and nothings on.

Has anything changed? And as Herbert Simon the Economist said

What information consumes is rather obvious. It consumes the attention of
its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention
...The only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention.

Alan :-)

[Tom]

That's why you need a TV Genius!