Social distancing and isolation practices have forced many in the mainstream media to think ‘creatively’ about content production and ‘about the health of their staff’ for the first time.

This has immediately resulted in a sharp deterioration of production standards, in what some are calling a fitting replacement for the outgoing community television station C31.

C31 will close on 30 June 2020 after 25 years of serving diverse local communities without reliance on government funding.

However after producing three Golden Logie winners (Hamish Blake, Waleed Aly, and Rove Macmanus) and multiple mainstream television shows (Marngrook Football, Vasili’s Garden) C31 is no longer needed, as billion dollar media outlets are now picking up the slack.

C31 viewers can continue to enjoy TV sports without crowds, however they will need to get used to digital banners and fake crowd noises.

‘Crowd enhancement’ measures were adopted so quickly by mainstream outlets, it is almost as if they had used these measures before, in preference to authentic sounds of the game.

Other community television staples have been adopted in their entirety. Noticeably, all sense of crowds have been eliminated entirely from in-studio productions.

These crowds havebeen replaced by either awkward clapping from producers, or in some cases, complete silence.

C31 fans can now enjoy millionaire presenters face the realisation that a joke fell flat or that they were never funny to begin with.

In more ‘innovative’ cases, some broadcasts have come straight from the homes of presenters. Thankfully for C31 viewers, these ‘homecasts’ lack the filming and sound quality accessible to thousands of YouTubers.

Poorly designed sets will also stay on air after C31 closes shop thanks to social distancing. Mainstream media’s creativity has been exposed by social distancing, revealing poor table set ups and forcing hosts to awkwardly hold their own home printed A4 notes.

Zoom feeds and ‘concept shows’ are also being quickly adopted. This has resulted in poorly executed programs with communication issues. C31 viewers will be thankful billion-dollar media conglomerates are finally producing these kinds of shows!

Unfortunately however some media producers continue high quality programming despite restrictions. By thoughtfully testing proper alternatives and respecting their audiences, some shows mimic the C31 spirit, but not the production value.

C31 for over 25 years carefully produced programs with love and meaning, serving those who needed a voice and were left behind in ever accelerating technological progress.

C31’s will be replaced with dead air for the next five years. Its independent producers will lose much of their audience and communities, after years of hard work powered only by love and tiny budgets.

Thankfully the ‘tiny budget’ aspect of community television will be continued by the many in the mainstream media as they continue to mass produce shallow programming with the low production standards, and even lower respect for their audiences.