C4 loses Lost
20/10/06 11:46 Media
issues
This could be an interesting one - Channel 4 has lost
one of its major hits, Lost, to Sky One.
The full story is in the Guardian and it's certainly a
coup for the Murdoch empire. I can't help
wondering though, whether it's actually too
late. I watched the first few episodes and then
sort of tuned out, and according to the
Guardian's report |'m not alone.
It wasn't that the episodes had got worse or anything, I should add - just that forcing my wife to sit through the revamped Doctor Who was enough for her to bear and I decided to compromise somewhere (we;ll be recording Torchwood on Sunday, of course, what with Prime Suspect being so good last week).
But Lost shed a lot of viewers between seasons one and two. It's likely to do the same for season 3 and this effect will be magnified by a move to satellite. Has Sky done itself any favours? Personally I think not. Lost is the sort of series whose viewers will frankly already have satellite or cable in their homes. With Freeview coming around as a competitor, if I were in charge of the Murdoch channels I'd be looking for a way to bring new viewers in rather than appease those I already had.
It wasn't that the episodes had got worse or anything, I should add - just that forcing my wife to sit through the revamped Doctor Who was enough for her to bear and I decided to compromise somewhere (we;ll be recording Torchwood on Sunday, of course, what with Prime Suspect being so good last week).
But Lost shed a lot of viewers between seasons one and two. It's likely to do the same for season 3 and this effect will be magnified by a move to satellite. Has Sky done itself any favours? Personally I think not. Lost is the sort of series whose viewers will frankly already have satellite or cable in their homes. With Freeview coming around as a competitor, if I were in charge of the Murdoch channels I'd be looking for a way to bring new viewers in rather than appease those I already had.
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