There's a terrific new post up from Chris Anderson (of Long Tail fame) about television and it's particular appropriateness to long tail economics.

He's right on many points, including the disposable nature of current offerings and the huge amount of TV that is missed and gone forever.

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From The Long Tail "Thus the ratio of produced content to available content is the highest of any industry I've looked at. Other industries may produce more content--print, for instance--but it's far more available (see Google). Only television treats its premium content as disposable. True, a lot of it actually is. But not all, and not as much as is effectively thrown away after a brief moment in the sun."
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What he doesn't say - but i suspect he an many other literate folks know - is that most of what is now distributed via TV deserves to be missed.

Content that is created under the current system conforms to it's shape and limitations.

That means that all content is biased in favor of scale (large audience sell TV ads).

But the power of the promise of the Long Tail isn't that we want to have all 500+ channel content on a server in an on demand world - what a pile of junk. Rather it is that evolutionary economics could actually create an entirely NEW kind of media.

Think of current 'television' as mass market entertainment, and the future of 'motion media' as having a whole series of other species. File content under:

a. Knowledge b. Debate and Discussion c. Exploration and Ideas d. Art

Overall, far more detailed - valuable, and necessary. Not a pastime, but the evolving center of a marketplace of ideas and information - created with new media tools.

So, I would suggest that TV shouldn't be saved. It shouldn't be Exploded. It should Evolve.

This is the tricky part. A number of years ago I was at conf. with lots of smart people. It was one of those 'everyone participates' think tanks. And when it came to me - the question was "didn't I agree that TV was the source of much evil in the world, in education, in our lives." Rather than answer - I asked everyone in the audience who watches TV to raise their hands. Out of 100 people - 8 did.

My point is - there is a cycle we have to break. TV programs to lowest common denominator audiences. Intelligent viewers don't use video for knowledge, or understanding. And the people who make programs for smaller, but more discerning viewers find they can't reach their intended recipients.

Companies like Brightcove (as Chris rightly points out) are key to the puzzle. But then we need to go the next step, and challenge great thinkers to attempt to translate their ideas into moving media. Not 'Sundance' films. Something entirely new.

Because we'll need an entire generation of new media ideas before we can ask people to evolve from passive consumers of junk media into thoughtful creators and remixers of participatory television.