Debuting last weekend on their iView platform as well being screened regularly on Thursday nights for the length of its six-episode series, Glitch is a new mystery-drama that is indicative of the ABC's modern approach to programming. Glitch begins in the cemetery of a small, rural Victorian town called Yoorana where a ruckus prompts a Police Sergeant (Ruben Guthrie's Patrick Brammel) to respond. Once there he finds his deceased wife Kate, among several other dead former residents, in perfect health and having just crawled her way out of her own grave. Naturally, drama and intrigue follows.
Glitch has a very strong opening episode that pushes its interesting premise forward with strong cinematography and editing that makes some seamless transitions between reality and memory, as well as some good performances from an experienced cast and satisfactory writing. The second episode nose-dives into familiar and unimpressive television-drama territory but the power of the production is still there so the rest of the series may return yet to the quality of the first episode. Some have remarked on the familiarity of the show's concept, which is not an unfair accusation to present to Glitch, but the creators have produced the show following the success of their previous drama The Slap which also received an American adaptation, and that series was certainly well received by audiences and critics, and it at least had an effect on TV culture in Australia.
Nevertheless Glitch is a mature, quality drama (at least so far) and show what the ABC is capable of both in terms of the quality of its television and its delivery. In recent years and in spite of boycotts, cuts and controversy, the Australian Broadcast Corporation has a distinctly modern approach to most of its programming staying ahead or in line with the other major free-to-air channels and even in response to overseas media trends. Since 2005, ABC2 has functioned as the ABC's primary digital channel during the gradual change from analogue to digital televisions Australia-wide. This committment has now expanded to four digital television channels (ABC, ABC2, ABC3 and ABC News 24), several digital radio channels, podcasts, and in 2008 launched their catch-up service iView declaring "The Television Revolution has begun!" By releasing the entirety of Glitch online and ad-free is another milestone in the ABC's aggressive approach to remaining relevant, and though the show is not amazing, it is a solid foundation for this approach. It comes on the heels of the blockbusting launch of on-demand juggernaut Netflix in Australia in April, which has dominated other subscription services such as Quickflix, Presto and Stan. Last summer SBS also launched on their comprehensive on-demand service, the aptly named SBS On Demand, 400 films of various genres and languages (the service has currently just over 700 films), and they also have a wealth of radio and television programs ready to available. And after years of declining performance compared to international release, Australian films are beginning to adapt to on-demand by releasing online instead of cinemas.
Obviously this is a golden age for consumers of entertainment media, but there are a lot of variables, good and bad, that need to be considered. As big and powerful as digital programming distribution is in Australia it is not yet dominant, our relatively embarrassing internet infrastructure means that our ability to connect to digital streaming services is limited. Additionally, due to diverse and long-standing rights deals, access to many shows and films are restricted and even then, aside from in-house productions such as Netflix Originals and Foxtel Productions, access is restricted by time as often it takes months or years for subscription services to receive permissions. Australian digital consumers are vocal in their demands for more choice and the industry has responded. Both in America and Australia, digital programming has taken a form not unlike the notorious console wars that dominates home-console gaming. Exclusivity, in-house productions and price cuts appear to be the ways that streaming services aim to secure a larger market share and we as consumers are becoming spoilt for choice. The reality is that all of these different services and their exclusivity deals mean that consumers are forced to make multiple subscriptions to meet their own demand or else suffer from a lack of content.. The whole digital media landscape is shifting constantly and unfortunately Australian authorities are reacting too slow to respond adequately.
Personally, I describe myself as a media junkie. I spend much of my spare time watching films (both physical copies and digitally delivered), catching up on TV shows, going to the cinema, browsing Youtube and Vimeo, and trying to read entertainment news and articles. I'm a part of a generation known as "Digital Natives". We've grown up with these technologies, grown as they have. Compare the media landscape from 2000 to today in 2015. The internet was not ubiquitous, mobile phones were not colour, wi-fi was non-existent, TV and cinema were accessed very narrowly, games had severely restricted online functionality and DVD's were very gradually taking over the market. This is the kind of world many of our politicians still exist in. To them, the internet isn't an everyday and necessary tool, they engage over social media in the most superficial ways, they gather information in completely different ways and engage with media in ways that we as digital natives find archaic, they have little to no idea of the needs, desires and sometime even abilities to live-stream your days and interests via Periscope or Twitch, watch films on the go via your smartphone, play videogames with people all over the world in real-time and access and share information instantaneously from almost anywhere.. So the decisions they make in regards to media are made from a position of relative ignorance and for the first time in history we are able to see how far behind Australia is in real-time. Obviously this applies to more than just access and use of media but the point still stands.
I suppose what I've been trying to say is that we're still in the early stages of redefining media in Australia, and it will certainly take time before things become comfortable. But with appropriate pressure on our pollies, patience and prompt responses such as those of the SBS and ABC, digital media in Australia will improve.
Glitch can be viewed on ABC iView on all devices on Thursday nights on the ABC.
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