Imagining a utopia of compromise

The Future of Television in Canada, a report on TV and Internet use, suggests a close, if not completely loving, long-term relationship between the two, reports The Globe and Mail.

Programs aired on broadcast television are expected to be significantly impacted by the blurring of television and online media. While sports, for example, are expected to maintain a warm TV audience, news could slide off the map entirely.

The report depicts a future of tough programming decisions for networks, particularly as audiences look to the Internet for on-demand versions of their favorite shows.

This is trouble enough, but there is yet another glitch in the innovation tightrope: the online rights to top prime-time shows are almost entirely out of the reach of Canadian networks, as the vast majority are US programs toting unappetizing dollar figures.

Still, the report promises that while the Internet may splinter TV audiences, it won't destroy them entirely: "History shows that new media appears disruptive at the outset […] Yet what we have seen happen is that they eventually settle into a co-existence with one another."

The Future of Television in Canada was compiled by Nordicity Group Ltd., a third-party consulting firm.