In an era of channel surfing and TiVo, the BBC's flagship television channels, BBC 1 and BBC 2, still command, at least among older Britons, that elusive thing known as brand loyalty.
The era of channel surfing is almost near its end and discovery of new content through mere chance will soon be gone.
What place does a Carry On film have in an era of Channel 4's Sex Box and "cumpilations"?
Soaps ruled during the era of terrestrial channels, not the audience-fractured, multi-channel, on-demand, increasingly net-based viewing milieu we have had since the millennium.
It was always a source of iconoclastic pride that I never saw a single episode of "Seinfeld" or "Friends" back when they were in their prime, but in the era of multiplying channels and ubiquitous choices, those shows have now hunted me down.
Even in this cluttered era of hundreds of channels, the typical viewer routinely flips among only 14 or so favorite outlets, says Koonin.
Now, after 16 years and countless repeats as a Channel 4 fixture as reliable as Countdown, the stars of Friends are signing off, ending an era for generations of channel hoppers.
The era of ever-growing channel choice is coming to an end; cable and satellite distributors will begin to prune the least popular ones.
The show, which led the explosion in reality TV formats over the last 10 years, was described as the "most influential show of the modern era" by the head of Channel 4, Julian Bellamy, yesterday.
The comedian Bill Maher was the textbook case for the bygone era of the 100-channel universe, after ABC bought his hit show, "Politically Incorrect," away from Comedy Central.
Considering we live in the era of 700 television channels, iPhone movie-watching, countless hours stolen by Facebook and video games and, well, you get the picture, it is hardly stunning that the World Series has tumbled down the entertainment ladder and now looks up enviously at episodes of "Dancing With the Stars".
