Discussions
Is The Future Of Television Online?
Posted by Rich • 3/11/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: convergence, entertainment, internet, online programs, television
I've been tracking the convergence of television and the Internet for more than a year. But I have never asked BlogCatalog members what they think. So what do you think?
Is the future like I see it?
digg.com/television/Letter_To_Les_Moonves_Go_Boldly
Or something else?
User Comments
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Yes. When you factor in how many people use TiVo, DVRs, iTunes, OnDemand, etc., there's a real case that the Nielsen ratings system is antiquated. Convergence is the way. -
Great post, Rich. And yes, I do see it going the way you describe -- and I certainly hope it does. TV as we now know it is on the wane.
Bobbie-
Thank Bobbie.
I think so too. The possibilities for amateur productions and a solid network presence seem long overdo.
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Youtube is our TV - we gave ours away 2 years ago and tip-tap away
User generated entertainment, media and connections is the way to GO! Hope you enjoy our BLOG idol contest over at flowers Rich
One example of bring TV to the blogosphere.....thought we'd give it a GO!
www.gosmelltheflowers.com/archives/2567-
I love your contests.
This one is especially sharp.
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Regular TV isn't going to die right off, but presumably something big is afoot, or so people in television think, or else the writer's strike wouldn't have lasted so long. What was that about again? The internet. -
In 2009, broadcast becomes all digital. If something is afoot, that would be it. Millions of people may not opt back in because they watch what they want online, anytime, all the time. It's that simple.
Entertainment also leads as the topic of choice among bloggers. That is a boatload of free marketing, paid for by the fans of certain shows. It's amazing to think how many of books could be filled with consumer TV blog content.-
One thing this ignores is the millions of people who do not have high speed internet connections. It also ignores habits. I don't think you can talk about replacing TV, but convergence makes sense.
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Well of course this will not happen -- PIFF! -- overnight. It will be/is an emergent process.
My mother still gets all her news from broadcasts on network TV and her local newspaper, and given her age, she'll probably never switch over to a broadband/internet source for news, much less for entertainment. At the same time, my husband and I find that -- even though we have a satellite TV system with a gazillion channels to choose from -- we spend less and less time watching TV of any sort (news or information or entertainment), while at the same time, we spend more and more hours online. Our time online used to revolve around work-related tasks, for the most part. These days, we spend much of our time online for entertainment, and of course news.
The multi-media aspects of broadband media (audio, video, text -- sometimes independently, but very often combined) hold much greater appeal than what TV offers. But the biggest draw is the user-defined nature of the online experience -- getting to view what you want to see when you want to see it, for as little or as long a time as you wish to spend. The broadband user decides how much depth to pursue when investigating a news item, for example. Scan headlines in one instance, spend two hours searching for and reading multiple sources of information in another instance, and all the while being able to ignore completely whatever is of no interest.
I'm already quite happy with following news almost exclusively via the internet. I'm looking forward to the day when the entertainment aspect catches up and offers me whatever I want to watch, whenever I want to watch it, on whatever device I happen to be looking at, mega jukebox style. -
Mark,
One of my clients is gleeful when he says N=1 will not work, which is his of saying that the number of viewers cannot be supported by broad alone. However, in looking at the patterns, it's more possible than we might think.
Jericho, for example, picked up 1.5 million views on one episode in two weeks, which means that the Internet did not break; and people do not rush to watch most shows live. In addition, if the bulk of viewers opt to download programs, the actual time online quickly diminishes.
I think it will take more time, one or two years, tops. The learning curve is zero. For example, my 60+ stylist was telling me all about Bit Torrent today.
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"Only 66% of the adults in this country own a computer, with only 40% able to access the internet."
I think we need to slow down when talking about tv losing out to the net...
I am excited about the hulu.com launch though.-
Re Hulu -- yes, I am, too. I haven't looked at it yet but earlier today my husband watched a skit from SNL on Hulu, and his very first comment was, "Hurray, it's good quality, too." (He was not talking about the content, but the operational quality.)
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I like it... has all the old arrested developments on it... I have been on there for awhile (the advantage of writing about social networks) although I think their site is very social
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Stupid Hulu is not avalaible in my region
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Manic, if I'm not mistaken, I think Hulu is going "live to the masses," i.e. out of beta, tomorrow.
Woohoo! -
Yes, but it won't be for other countries, becos the value of the global sales would collapse. Our TV stations already suffer from delayed airing of American series. Apparently, its on Youtube after less than a day.
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I take it you mean the programming will be American?
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Kevin,
Those are very old numbers. 66 percent was back in 2003; it jumped to 75 percent in 2004.
www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/03/62712
So what are numbers? SYS-Con places numbers at 99% of American households have broadband capabilities.
With the conversion in 2009; some people are likely to opt for cpus, which have a comparable price point anyway.
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Yeah, Rich, it's only a matter of time. Streaming video is here to stay, has only to yet be fully developed to its full potential.
I have a son, CEO of his own hi-tech start-up company, who is up to his ears in this stuff. He was instrumental in developing "Real Audio" (headed the development team that put it together) in the late 1990s boom, and has a front row seat for this latest step-up development.-
Jack,
Smart stuff. It's easier to see how fast the changes are taking place when you're next to it or next to someone who is next to it. The changes are taking place at such a clip that what is coming now is well beyond 180+ days behind what's next. It's like computer chips. The technology advancements are slower than the release dates.
Best,
Rich
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or i might say there is no future for television.. it will be replaced by online entertainment.. jus like usb flash drive replacing floppy disc -
What's an 8-track, my sister asked.
What's a floppy disk, my son asked.
What's a CD player, my daughter might ask. -
And yet you can get all of these things on eBay.
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I am reminded of my sister reading a story to one of my nephews when he waved his hand excitedly and said "Pause it, pause it".
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:-D
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Great discussion Rich. I do not know what will occur but technology will make me go where the popular trend is.-
Yep. Go with the stream as they say!
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I think it may be in the early stages but it offers more choice,more interaction,and hey,if you watch online, you can do at least two things at the same time!-
Is that the new way to skip commercials? Write a comment at the break? Shhhh ... don't tell.
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digital yeah but I think it will still be the domain of the living room rather than the laptop.-
I think you right Kevin. I don't think we'll be able to tell the difference.
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i think the future of most everything is online. online banking, online shopping, online everything. it's only natural that tv and movies are going online. the only reason it hasn't happened yet is, cause the big corporation don't have control of it yet. they want to set that up first. i visited S. Korea during the summer and it's amazing what can be done online. America is way behind. You can already see the future of the internet in areas like Seoul, and Tokyo -
in a word. YESSS -
I don't know how long it will be, but I think it won't be long. I watch most of my news on my computer now. And I watch a lot of youtube of TV shows like the Daily show for example. -
what's a television?-
It's a little box with pictures. Hey, kind of a computer screen, except nobody talks back.
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I definitely believe the future of television is online - BUT I believe there will be special cards you plug into your computer to get the content you want and then you will be able to use that card to for your regular television set....Actually I think this is already out there...but it will become more widespread.
hamptonblu.blogspot.com -
Television will be taken over by the internet. Eventually you will be able to watch all your favorite television shows online. -
One point to remember is that TV did not kill radio. So TV, like radio, will still continue, but most of the content will be moved over to the internet. The advantage is that you can take the internet with you (wireless) and you can watch what you want, when you want.
But like radio, TV has some advantages that people will still be attracted to. -
Well, it seems like we're in for some interesting cross proliferation. YouTube is coming to TV. The TiVo addition is the tip of the curve. copywriteink.blogspot.com/2008/03/making-everyone-famous-youtube-on-tivo.ht...
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Taking off from Fitzgerald's point above, I wonder if the real story is less about how we get our entertainment (radio, TV, internet) and more about how cable, satellite, and now the internet are fragmenting the market.
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I think it will continue fragment during the transition, but then it will balance out over time.
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i really hope it aint. -
Those free online TV compilation sites seems to be expanding all the time. -
Here's an interview that will interest you Rich. Unfortunately, it's only in audio format, so I'll have to give it a listen later on. Can't make any noise this time of night.
'We are a TV channel but we're distributed entirely on the internet'
www.guardian.co.uk/media/audio/2008/mar/13/jemima.kiss.revision3-
Thanks Mark. That is very relevant.
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I saw on the news yesterday a feature about some new service or device that will make YouTube accessible on TV. I think it will only be available to cable customers – didn’t pay that much attention but it made me think of this thread.
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I think Tivo is doing it.
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Yes, it is TiVo. It will be available to 800,000 viewers immediately ... and then all future TiVo customers. Thanks Kevin.
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Ubunto is the platform for tomorrow's TV
The sooner they get rid of the BBC the better.
Imagine going to jail just because you haven't paid your licence to watch TV. It sounds very draconian but it is very real. They advertise on the BBC, if you don;t pay your licence then you're a criminal and will be treated as such. Yeah right whatever - the expletive deletives lol -
Hulu can entertainment and inform you. Watch full-length films and TV shows for free.-
Its amazing this thread is so relevant and the amount of progress made since it started. The future of online television seems as common as a toaster.
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The future of television is not just online. the future is actually in blogs. the succes of Dr. horrible's sing along blog is sure sign of that.
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