Unterhaltungs- und Comedyfernsehen

Entertainment and comedy television is under constant criticism for commercialization, especially in Austria. The nature of the TV landscape does not allow for a division into purely commercial private television and purely public service programming. The question arises whether a TV station still needs a development department in this day and age of global program exchange and flourishing license and format rights trading with revenues in the millions. Does a TV station need its own program development department when it could buy any format? Which economic risk is higher, the purchase of a format in a format package or the development of an original program?