Nothing shows up the dated conceit of broadcast television more than Christmas. Whole channels showing The Mentalist, Bones or Law & Order on endless semi-day loops. Thirty year old shows at primetime.
Essentially they are leveraging the purchase of rights against audience size or flogging an old library.
But what we are seeing is the final nail being driven into the coffin of broadcast, scheduled TV. The schedule for most TV services are so complex as to be unusable.
So, how many years has the Christmas version of the Radio Times got left ? 2, 5, 10 ?
Schedules and second screen apps ?
What's left for the schedule in the box set era?