In OTL, during the early days of television, there had been cases throughout numerous countries in Europe and worldwide, where episodes of already broadcast programmes and series were routinely wiped from the tapes they were recorded on. The rationale was that these tapes were expensive. With reruns of older broadcasts still only becoming an established concept, it was generally believed that some recordings should be archived only temporarily, and their tapes should be wiped if spare tapes were needed. Many surviving recordings were also physically junked after spending a certain amount of time in the archives.
Even though this wasn't purely an issue related to period technology (questionable management practices and various lobbies also took their toll), it's interesting to think what the impact on television history and popular culture would be if things were a little different. Namely, what if the recording technology of the time was more mature ? What if, going hand in hand with that, there would be enough employees well aware that systematic archiving is the way of the future and neglecting television archives would be a bad idea ?
Any ideas on how we could advance the television recording tech to make the technology more mature by at least the early 1960s ? And, with it being more mature, better tested and more readily available, have it be also cheaper to purchase for regular filming purposes ?
Even though this wasn't purely an issue related to period technology (questionable management practices and various lobbies also took their toll), it's interesting to think what the impact on television history and popular culture would be if things were a little different. Namely, what if the recording technology of the time was more mature ? What if, going hand in hand with that, there would be enough employees well aware that systematic archiving is the way of the future and neglecting television archives would be a bad idea ?
Any ideas on how we could advance the television recording tech to make the technology more mature by at least the early 1960s ? And, with it being more mature, better tested and more readily available, have it be also cheaper to purchase for regular filming purposes ?