14 Jan
2009
14 Jan
'09
5:56 p.m.
Dan Gahlinger wrote:
Why have TV when you can stream anything you want any
time you want from the internet?
Where is the place for it, and advertising when you can download shows for free (or
"free") or close to it?
(I know this is off-topic, but as a video content producer who has
researched online distribution I'm in a unique position to comment on
this, so hopefully it will be tolerated...)
Because you can't currently stream *everything* for free. Less than 3%
of all major networks' shows are available online from the networks (ie.
legally).
TV won't die any time soon, but is changing into a quasi-music-industry
model. Meaning, pop music artists today hardly make any money off of
their CD/online store sales; instead, they make their living from live
shows. From the standpoint of the artist, all of the radio play and CD
sales are "advertising" to go see the live shows. (This is not the
standpoint of the publishers, which I will tastefully not comment on in
this message.)
So how is TV like that? In the case of television, shows like Heroes,
30 Rock, and CSI are available online from 1-7 days after the broadcast.
When you go to watch them online, you are treated to advertising --
but unlike broadcast television, there is no way to skip the advertising
as the DRM'd player won't let you. (No doubt hackers will find a way
around this, but for now, that's the case.) A single advertisement that
you cannot skip is worth a dozen that you *expect* the user to skip. In
these shows' cases, the broadcast brings in advertising dollars, but
*more* serve to drive the user online, where distribution can be audited
(think Neilsen ratings with a much larger sample size), promotion for
other company offerings (like DVD sets) can be made without cutting into
broadcast time, etc. There is a very large market for DVD sets of
shows, and as long as the set contains extra materials (commentary is
usually a requirement), the set can sell to a customer even if they have
watched all of the shows online.
There is a tipping point, but we won't get there until high-speed
broadband becomes a utility in every home (ie. 6mbps or greater, enough
to support picture quality identical or better to broadcast TV).
BTW, do an inventory of all of the shows being offered online and you
will find that, almost universally, they are shows that are followed by
the technologically savvy. Putting nerd-centric shows like 30 Rock and
Heroes online makes sense because that is more of where those shows'
viewers are anyway ("I spend more time on the computer than on the
couch"). Conversely, putting shows online like talk shows or reruns
don't make sense since the viewership of those shows is primarily
non-technical or lower-income and wouldn't have broadband. (One of the
few exceptions to this are soap operas, because each show of a soap
broadcast only once and is not repeated/re-run. Putting them online
allows people who missed them a second chance to catch up on the story,
which gives the broadcasting company a second chance to earn advertising
revenue.)
a friend of mine has dumped TV (sat/cable, etc), they
setup a NAS device and stream everything from online to their systems,
and their TV's have rca/coax/digital connectors. with 2 1TB drives of media, and
various systems with NFS mounts for other media.
There's no advertising in there at all, no revenue stream, and no on-going cost for
him to operate (except electricity).
surprisingly perhaps, the reduction in electricity usage is exactly why he did it, he
turned off 3 systems in place of the one NAS, which uses 1/3rd
power of any of those systems alone.
No doubt, then, that your friend is doing this quite illegally. I would
like to know what internet/cable/whatever service he is using that not
only *provides* but *allows* every show on every network over TCP/IP.
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/