Tuning in to the times

As the new fall TV season starts up, Hollywood Reporter columnist Diane Mermigas reflects on how fundamentally the business has changed:

The gripping question for the television industry as the focus turns to the new fall season is how well the major networks' primetime programs will play as digital cell phone and e-mail snippets, on-demand replays, aftermarket DVDs, video games and other new gizmos. So much for the ritual of must-see appointment TV viewing.

Instead of being the final destination, primetime has become a starting point for broadcast and cable networks to launch programs that have the wherewithal to make it in a $20 billion-plus untethered content market that caters to Internet-connected video game consoles and cell phones, to computers and video search engines, to video iPods and DVRs. ...

(Via Lost Remote.)