ONE can't help feeling that as the TV networks trade their customary blows each morning over who won which time slot they are missing the bigger picture.
As the first week of the new ratings season draws to a close, the TV industry must look beyond the minutiae of the programming schedule and shifting demographics to what the future holds, if indeed it has one.
Last week, a panel of industry luminaries debated that very subject.
The consensus from Viocorp's Future of Television forum was that TV, or rather video, is far from dead. Traditional free-to-air TV is still alive because it has the audience and the budgets to make quality programming, but when those viewers drop away, so too will the revenue.
What is slowly but surely dying is the linear model whereby programmers in TV stations pick what we watch, when we watch it and on what device.
Instead, viewers are mixing it up, watching catch-up TV online, time-shifting with devices like Foxtel's IQ and catching the odd snippet on their mobile phones or on YouTube. And that's just the beginning.
How anyone is going to make any money from a future when a pipe coming into the home will allow viewers to pull a vast array of content from myriad websites on to their screens is anybody's guess.
Mikael Borglund of Beyond International - the makers of such hit shows as MythBusters and Stingers - looked particularly glum as he pondered how he could get a return from a quality drama that can cost up to $600,000 an hour to produce.
A staggered release - starting with free-to-air TV, moving through pay TV and the internet and ending up on DVD - might just deliver the eyeballs, but, then again, it might not. ABC managing director Mark Scott is banking on news and current affairs, sport, and what he is calling ''event TV'' to keep his audience although, luckily for him, he doesn't have to worry about making a buck from them.
The panel, which also included James Scott from consultants Accenture, Rob Leach, the head of the digital arm of Foxtel's sales house, MCN, and Chris Albrecht from NewTeeVee, agreed that as long as viewers liked what they were watching they didn't really care whether it came from Seven, Arena, or www.cuteanimals.com.
On Wednesday at News Corporation's earnings call, Rupert Murdoch put it more bluntly, telling investors: ''Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital.'' Given Mr Murdoch's empire straddles the creation and distribution of content, he is better placed than some to benefit from the media revolution.
The future of TV, video, screen, or whatever you choose to call it, will hinge on content but finding the proverbial needle in the haystack will also determine whether that piece of content will live or die. If you thought 16 free-to-air channels was enough, then you may struggle with the hundreds that will be available once the government's national broadband network is running.
''That circle of trust on Facebook and Twitter is really going to be key in recommending what you watch,'' said Mr Albrecht.
