Gone are the days of “Event TV” when whole families gathered around the telly to witness historic happenings – moon landings or CCP Committee Meetings – or the much-anticipated denouements of popular dramas. Instead, we live in an age of Events TV, a time when different family members experience wholly separate programming strands, frequently on a wide variety of devices and platforms. The living room TV is dead, long live the tablet, the smartphone and any other digital device capable of remotely accessing video content.

While the digital hardware that makes this possible is all too familiar, less apparent are the vast arrays of global content producers that have sprung up, many of them eschewing traditional broadcast channels in favour of delivering bespoke, on-command net-based dramas, sporting events and movie premieres, all available when you want it and via whichever screened gadget has won your favour.

The superstars of this new era are the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Now and Hulu – content producers and distributors with deep pockets, wide reaches and surprisingly high quality thresholds. Arguably, this sudden surge in quality is down to one very real change in the business model of video content distributors.

While programming was once doomed to be bland, middle-of-the-road and inoffensive in order to win favour with the mighty advertisers who booked the commercial breaks and funded all non-state-run broadcasters, now it has to be engaging, original and controversial. Quite simply, the ad men are no longer calling the shots, with snaring the viewer via extended subscriptions now what’s keeping the lights on for content producers. It may have taken more than 90 years to happen, but finally the viewer is king.

This transformation of the sector, of course, has not been universally welcomed. While many existing terrestrial broadcasters / content producers initially welcomed the arrival of streaming services, seeing them as channels for rescreening their existing productions, such warmth quickly dissipated once these upstarts began generating their own programmes. Overnight, they ceased being complementary and became simply competitors.

This simmering resentment went suddenly public last year when Okja, a Netflix-produced action movie, was roundly booed by conventional filmmakers during the Cannes Film Festival. The negative audience response had been preceded by weeks of wrangling as to whether original streaming content was even eligible to be screened at the event, with Cannes long seen as the global shop-window for theatrically-released movies. Ultimately, it was decreed that such content would never again be screened at the event.

If such a decision does stem from petulance on the part of established cinematic auteurs, it could be a reaction they could come to regret. For many cultural and technological commentators, streaming is not a passing fad, a brief digital dalliance likely to be soon discarded, with normal services resumed soon after. Instead, it is a new reality that meets both the requirements of time-starved tellywatchers and a new generation of content producers.

Indeed, freed of the shackles of getting the nod from big budget advertisers, streaming channels can be bolder and far less restricted when it comes to commissioning content. This has seen some long-gestating properties, many of which were denied a slot by conventional broadcasters, finally get made, frequently going on to secure both record viewing figures and industry accolades.

A prime example here is The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. When Tina Fey, the US comedienne and star of the long-running hit 30 Rock, wanted backing for a new, somewhat edgy comedy, she found few takers. Given that the series revolved around a woman being held hostage by a religious fanatic, even NBC – the network that had made megabucks from her previous show – politely demurred, deeming it to be just too controversial. Netflix, however, had few such scruples and the show is now one of the streaming service’s most popular original series. Tellingly, it has also been nominated for 18 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Reflecting on her experience with this new medium, Fey now says: “With broadcast, when you’re going into people’s homes, you have to be a little more polite. On streaming services, however, you can get into far more dangerous territory largely because you don’t have to worry about advertisers.”

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay