TV and the Web: Two Tribes Go To War

Throughout the increasingly awkward Q&A session that followed, many of the die-hard TV traditionalists argued that they neither understood or particularly cared about online content and seemed extremely concerned that a broadcaster would even think about diverting so much of their budget away from TV.

The new media crowd, for their part, protested that they couldn't figure out the TV commissioning system, and admitted they were struggling to get their heads round the "broadcast sensibilities" that the commissioners desperately wanted to instil in their projects.

I sat at the back watching the widening rift and couldn't help thinking both sides were missing the point.

What we have here is an opportunity to try out something completely new. It's not about us playing by their rules or either party having to shoe-horn their values into a new way of working. It's about each side bringing their strengths and experience to the table and creating something bigger than the sum of its parts.

Instead of fearing change and hoping that this whole multiplatform thing is a fad that will quietly go away, the broadcasting sector needs to open its eyes and see the digital age for what it is: an unprecedented opportunity to move our art form forward.

Television is a powerful medium for telling stories and, for most of us working in the industry, the desire to craft and share narratives is the very thing that keeps us hooked. Whether it's a BBC costume drama, a fly-on-the-wall documentary, a reality series or a game show, the heroic struggle of triumph over adversity forms the kernel of what we try and convey. And on the whole, I think we do a damn good job of it.

For new media companies looking for interesting, lucrative and creatively challenging avenues to explore, the broadcasting sector represents a massive opportunity to break new ground. By collaborating with experienced TV production teams, they can channel their own creativity and technical expertise into an industry, and more importantly a talent base, that is well versed in the business of telling great narratives and hungry for new ways of doing so.

Therefore the rise of blogging, IPTV, video sharing, social networks, alternate reality gaming, wikis, podcasts and all the other trappings of the digital age shouldn't be seen as a threat to "traditional" media producers, but rather a gift. Suddenly we have a whole new toolbox to play with and a hundred new ways to tell our stories, reach new audiences and to collaborate with our viewers like never before.

I genuinely feel that the broadcasting and new media industries have a great deal to learn from each other and that by working together we can achieve things that it would be impossible to do apart. Indeed, TV must evolve to embrace these new platforms or risk being left on the shelf as our lives move increasingly online.

After all, there's no more benefit in displaying stubborn mastery over a medium that losing ground than there is in creating a new medium that fails to learn from what has gone before. After all, you could be the best hieroglyph carver in the world but if you don't get the hang of papyrus sooner or later then no-ones going to be paying attention any more.

If the medium is the message then the message to the broadcasting industry is clear: embrace new platforms or get left behind.

What do you think - do TV and the web really need to join forces or are they better off sticking to what they know?