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There are two main reasons for Channel 5's plight, according to TV viewers Life! spoke to: the lack of strong original content and the appalling quality of acquired programmes, which largely comprise old seasons of American drama series, movie reruns and cheesy variety shows such as amateur video compilations.
When the current fifth season of The Noose ends on Tuesday, no quality programme with a strong local flavour and identity has been announced to take its place.
If a foreigner who is new to Singapore were to watch MediaCorp's Channel 5 for a taste of the country, he would not get any good idea from its line-up. MediaCorp receives government funding.
Lawyer Adrian Kwong, 37, calls the channel "practically irrelevant" while 21-year-old marketing executive Edward Cheang is turned off by the "very boring" programming.
One common gripe about the English-language channel's line-up is that the shows aired are often old and repeated too often. For example, the movie offering on March 14 at 10pm was the action thriller Die Hard 2, a 1990 flick that had been previously aired. It prompted administrator Goh Ying Wei, 38, to remark: "It seems like they just pick something blindly to play to fill time." Older movies aired this month include Finding Nemo (2003), Anaconda 3 (2008) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990).
Marketing executive Mr Cheang says that the constant shaking of the camera on Point Of Entry "gives me trauma and nausea".
Mr Wang says of the show, which is about a special operations team with the Immigrations & Checkpoints Authority: "It's so bad that it's funny, like VR Man." VR Man was a 1998 superhero drama produced by the then-Television Corporation of Singapore that was unanimously panned.
When the current fifth season of The Noose ends on Tuesday, no quality programme with a strong local flavour and identity has been announced to take its place.
If a foreigner who is new to Singapore were to watch MediaCorp's Channel 5 for a taste of the country, he would not get any good idea from its line-up. MediaCorp receives government funding.
Lawyer Adrian Kwong, 37, calls the channel "practically irrelevant" while 21-year-old marketing executive Edward Cheang is turned off by the "very boring" programming.
One common gripe about the English-language channel's line-up is that the shows aired are often old and repeated too often. For example, the movie offering on March 14 at 10pm was the action thriller Die Hard 2, a 1990 flick that had been previously aired. It prompted administrator Goh Ying Wei, 38, to remark: "It seems like they just pick something blindly to play to fill time." Older movies aired this month include Finding Nemo (2003), Anaconda 3 (2008) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990).
Marketing executive Mr Cheang says that the constant shaking of the camera on Point Of Entry "gives me trauma and nausea".
Mr Wang says of the show, which is about a special operations team with the Immigrations & Checkpoints Authority: "It's so bad that it's funny, like VR Man." VR Man was a 1998 superhero drama produced by the then-Television Corporation of Singapore that was unanimously panned.
The challenge, obviously, is for Channel 5 to step up its production of original shows.
As assistant professor Liew puts it: "If the media industry and government are keen to nurture local content, they should perhaps consider revamping this station as a platform for predominantly home-grown productions in the English language."
As assistant professor Liew puts it: "If the media industry and government are keen to nurture local content, they should perhaps consider revamping this station as a platform for predominantly home-grown productions in the English language."
