Pay cable widens broadcast gulf

Many of Paul Brownfield’s readers will be surprised and disappointed by his misleading and incomplete response to [the] question, “Do you think the gulf between pay cable and broadcast television is widening or narrowing?” [Ask the Critic, Nov. 25].

His familiar byline leads your readers to conclude he must be aware of the primary reason that pay cable and broadcast television do not compete on level playing fields, but he just failed to convey it.

Brownfield’s sweeping assertion that the cable-broadcast “gulf” is “mitigated” by the fact that giant media corporations own everything fails to consider the impact on the industry of pay cable’s “say anything and show anything” programming. Cable is rapidly widening the gap.

For the fourth consecutive year, in 2004, HBO won more Emmy nominations (124) than any of the broadcast networks.

Despite the success of ABC’s ribald “Desperate Housewives,” which is only a more expensive version of network TV’s ageless daytime soap operas, two factors prevent the gap from narrowing: government regulations and an ever-increasing audience for “say anything and do anything” programming.

Gene Walsh

Burbank