MEDIA-I: New media choice - MediaCorp

<p>Site www.mediacorpsingapore.com </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>When I think of Singapore's MediaCorp, a TV & radio broadcaster, the </p><p>phrase "competent but dull" springs to mind. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And that pretty much sums up its website. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Competent" because it does an okay job of showcasing what's on the </p><p>various TV and radio channels. You can navigate fairly easily around the </p><p>site. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And there's the kind of content you'd expect; like programme listings </p><p>and streaming video clips. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>One major gripe however, and this comes under the "glaring omissions" </p><p>category: there's no search function, so I have to plod through each </p><p>channel to find what I want. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And it's all just a bit ... well, dull. The design leaves me cold. </p><p>There's clearly been an attempt to make things "hip and funky", but it </p><p>falls flat. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Which is a real wasted opportunity, especially when you drill down into </p><p>the site and look at channels like "Arts Central". This has everything </p><p>from "Black Adder" to nature documentaries. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But the site manages to make even this look boring, with a design more </p><p>suited to a corporate brochure. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>A couple of things did impress me. One was the reminders that you can </p><p>request an alert on your SMS on when your favourite show's about to come </p><p>on. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Given how wedded Singaporeans are to their mobiles it's a smart way for </p><p>MediaCorp to stay in touch with their audience even when they're not in </p><p>front of the television. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>