TV is Dead to Me
I just noticed that I don’t watch the evening news anymore (and for that matter, any news on TV…and for that matter, TV as a whole).
9.853 times out of 10 (it’s an average), I’m on the Dell reading news and watching video. If I can’t get it on the net, then I just don’t get it…and it’s ALWAYS on the net, in a much deeper way.
TV just isn’t formatted for my needs (when, how I get it and how much of it I want). Long are the days when I’d get home, crank on the TV to watch what’s going on in the world today. Rather, I get it on my laptop or phone.
Thankfully, traditional TV has demonstrated clairvoyance by putting the same TV broadcasts on the net. It makes total sense. Internet advertising has reached that critical point where there’s enough advertisers paying enough money to reach enough of an audience to make the benefits > costs.
What I also noticed is that I don’t know what time any TV broadcasts come on. Or in some cases, I know what time they come on, but I’m either busy or just don’t care because I can just go online and watch a replay, rewind if I miss a part, hit pause (almost TIVOesque) or read it and get more information from reading than a 1 minute TV blast.
ABC.com, NBC.com and CBS.com have done it well. I’m still greatly unimpressed with Fox.com, especially for the Family Guy – Fox doesn’t house a lot of the past episodes (3 for Family guy), so it’s extremely crappy. My favorite is NBC.com, not because of the bells and whistles, but because they have back episodes of Miami Vice (I’ve got this thing with the show, including all the bad acting that I can’t resist watching – ugh!).
But it just goes to show you how lifestyles have changed over the last decade. In the late 90s, I remember being annoyed that I’d have to sit at my home desk to watch videos. Now, it’s no problem and even more satisfying because I can multi-task without the guilt of having the laptop, TV and stereo on, burning up more coal and nuclear energy than several nations, including China.
Fred Wilson, over at AVC.com wrote about a company his firm invested in, Boxee, that’s going to help revolutionize internet TV. To that end, I’m really surprised internet TV hasn’t taken off in a big way…I heard Sony and the rest said the demand wasn’t there. I find that hard to believe at best, and at worst, my conspiracy/spidey sense begins to tingle and I wonder if there’s something more devious (cue spokey music here).
