There's a great article over at The New York Times. It's about all the changes happening at the broadcast networks concerning the traditional upfront model -- the practice of presenting to advertisers around the month of May a new portfolio of programming to be commenced in the fall season and the subsequent booking of ad dollars for said programming. That's how the process has worked -- CBS (NYSE: CBS), General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC, Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC, News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox, and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) CW show their wares now so that they can sell commercial inventory well ahead of the season premieres.

Well, according to the article, you can thank -- or blame -- the writer's strike for the dismantling of this quaint mechanism. I chose to thank the strike, because I think change is good in this case. You see, the broadcasters want to move to a 52-week season -- i.e., they want to debut new shows on a year-round basis instead of all at once, thus neutralizing the need for big upfront promotions. Actually, I should point out that there were probably other factors that helped this decision along -- most of them centering around costs and expenses. The expensive pilot-development process just isn't where it's at anymore. In fact, I wrote about this new paradigm back in April when NBC's co-chairman Ben Silverman was embracing it -- he's actually going for a 65-week season!

Here's the deal -- not only will spreading new programs out over an entire year lead to better management of costs, but it tends to be viewer-centric. The eyeballs don't want to be scheduled to anymore -- they don't want to be told to come back in September for a new season of shows after resting over the summer. The summer is as good a time as any to watch TV, assuming there's something on to watch. What I liked most about the Times piece is that it seems that advertisers are supportive of this model. I'm glad about that, and I also share their reticence -- will the broadcasters have the guts to stick to this plan from this point on? They should, because it really isn't sticking to anything -- it actually encourages constant change and experimentation, in my opinion, and that could lead to increased attempts at cheaper programming, which is really what the network mantra should be.

So, here's hoping the networks have the discipline to vanquish the traditional upfront selling market and instead conserve this new thesis going forward. Year-round programming will shake things up, which is exactly what is needed.

Disclosure: I own shares in Disney and General Electric; positions can change at any time.