We recently posted a research piece on channel-hopping viewers and their loyalty. It seems consumers are growing more and more browned off with their overall television experience, but they remain loyal to their favourites. The one issue I didn't spot in the report is that of repeats. A pity - and I reckon had they asked a few pay-TV clients here in SA about their views on reruns, they would have got some interesting replies. Who knows, some might have even been printable. We're familiar with repeats, and old programs... some of the vehicles you see in some of the sitcoms are now probably found only somewhere in rural Transkei, where their rusting hunks are doing service as chicken shelters. And as for some of the mobile phones... they're massive! Throw them about and they could cause an injury. Having said that, it's all pretty subjective; when you have been on holiday, as I have, and missed a 'good 'un', the fact that it is being repeated is a godsend. But when you channel-hop in SA and find that next up is something that you watched only a few weeks ago, you tend to say "Gosh!". So, what about something new and fresh - where the mobile phones couldn't double as clubs, and the lead actor isn't reading a newspaper with a headline "Cuban Crisis: War Looms!" I wonder what would happen if a subscriber sent in last year's cancelled cheque with a note to the effect "Thanks for all the repeats; please find enclosed, one repeat cheque..." OK, maybe not...

Rod Baker, Content Manager