Is Broadcast TV Dead?

Those who have followed this blog in my postings on Facebook know that I used to post entertainment news about once a month but I been so tied up with other things in my life I haven’t had a chance to do that. Among the things I haven’t followed very closely for this year’s Golden Globe awards. When the awards aired last night on NBC I had not even looked at the nominations prior to watching broadcast. As I watched something disturbing became evident to me. Click here to see a complete list of nominees and winners. Here is a chart I put together showing how the nominations were split up among various kinds of media. The categories are Streaming: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Apple+. Premium: HBO, Showtime etc. Basic cable: FX, BBC America. Broadcast: NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX. A “w” in a column designates that’s the category for the winner.

Category Streaming Premium Basic Broadcast
Drama Series 2 2w 1 0
Musical or Comedy Series 4w 1 0 0
Limited or TV Movie 2 2w 1 0
Actress Limited or TV Movie 3 1 1w 0
Actor Limited or TV Movie 2 2w 1 0
Actress Drama 3w 1 1 0
Actor Drama 1 2w 2 0
Actress Musical or Comedy 4w 1 0 0
Actor Musical or Comedy 4w 1 0 0
Supporting Actress 3w 2 0 0
Supporting Actor 2 3w 0 0
Grand totals 31 18 8 0
Winners 5 5 1 0

As you can see not a single nomination for a broadcast TV show. Nothing for “This Is Us” or any other broadcast drama. Nothing for a traditional live audience sitcom in the comedy category. Even basic cable was only represented by 2 networks FX and BBC America with only 3 shows nominated: Fosse/Verdon, Pose, and Killing Eve. Streaming services and premium cable split the wins at 5 each but streaming was nominated nearly 2 to 1 over premium cable.

The only conclusion that we can draw from this information is that if you want to see quality television, you are going to have to pay extra. So we have to ask the question: is broadcast TV dead? If they don’t change they will be.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.