I never thought I’d say this, but Eddie McGuire knows what he’s on about.

Eddie, having recently taken over as Chief Executive of the Nine Network, has his plate full given the rising number of entertainment choices we have today. However, he seems to have a clue, if his statements in today’s Australian are anything to go by.

“People my age have grown up with traditional television, but kids these days are into mobile services, watching television, texting and using the internet at the same time.

“They are now their own programmers, and the challenge is there to try to get that iPod generation to bring their ideas to us, so we can be their portal of choice. The trick is to be relevant to them again. That is not to say you’re going to jettison the generation before them, but there’s a mix there somewhere.

Now it’s time for Eddie to put plans in place to cater for today’s generation, not just the iPod Gen or Gen Y.

In my opinion, his first port of call is to tackle the issue of digital tv multicasting. I’ve been saying for a couple of years that the government needs to realise that without the ability to add extra content, on multiple channels, it’s never going to get off the ground. Thankfully this is exactly what a committee recommended recently.

His second strategy should focus on distributing content via other modes, like podcasts or iTunes.

My third suggestion would be to partner with a set top box manufacturer. Build a simple device that sits in people’s lounge rooms that aggregates multiple sources–digital broadcasts and Internet media–and you’ll begin to capture a community.

The risk for Eddie isn’t traditional anymore. The Nine Network will lose viewers to other devices, like the XBox 360 or the iPod. Before any of these guys realise it, Microsoft and Apple will have their own “television networks.” They’re both halfway there, one with a distribution model, and the other with a set top box.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2006 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.