A few years ago, at a White House luncheon, I happened to be seated next to the president of a major television network, a cultivated, conscientious man who already had a number of distinguished independent commercial productions to his credit before he decided to turn network executive. Since the fellow in question remains at the helm and, to the limited extent his personal authority can make a difference, is still a champion of quality programs, he had best be nameless. What he had to say about his industry was anything but complimentary.
Given the proliferation of cable, satellite, public broadcasting, and an everwider array of video recordings catering to every specialized taste, Mr. X argued, network television had nowhere to go but downhill. He spoke wistfully and rather resignedly, between spoonsful of insipid cold asparagus soup, as if dealing with an historical inevitability as unstoppable as it was undesirable. As everyone with a minimum of taste and pocket money was skimmed out of the network market by special programming, features, and services, he said, the networks would be left with a large but distinctly down-market residuum. As the audience declined in quality, so too would advertising and programming, each of these phenomena accelerating the others.
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