Table Tennis Could Face Increase in Net Height

At the recent World Championships there were a number of meetings between the ITTF Board, delegates and other entities like the ETTU. One agenda which ITTF has had over many years now is to make the sport more 'spectator friendly' by constantly trying to slow the game down and make it easier to follow. The latest in the line of discussion is increasing the height of the net which would mean players have to play with more safety and higher trajectory, marginally slowing the shots and rallies down. The reform suggestion was made by the Swiss Table Tennis Association with the aims of slowing down the game for more attractive television prospects.Again the sport's development is edging away from the players again and towards the spectators. I wrote an article some time ago on Why Catering for Spectators Has Backfired . Where is the line drawn?It's complex, it's fast and involves amazing reflexes. It is potentially the most spin oriented sport in the world.These are things we should be using to promote the sport. Instead we have rule changes which look to diminish the very things that make table tennis such an incredible sport.We are making the sport more athletic (plastic ball requires more physical prowess), slower and less spinny. We have had the plastic ball already and now more plans are in the pipeline. The question is how slow and spinless does table tennis have to become before we get the spectators which are so greatly expected?Spectator numbers online are growing with new media initiatives from ITTF. We are getting to know the players better and their personalities. The camera angles in major events and replay/highlight videos are better (with slow-motions etc).I believe slowing down the game is not the answer. I think the presentation of the sport is where the solution lies. If so many people can follow table tennis on a computer screen then why are they not interested in going to watch it live? That is the real question which needs answering.