The End of TV
Television will soon be another reason to hook up to the
Internet.
In the not-so-distant future TV as we know it, will cease to
exist. This is going to have huge ramifications on the whole of
human society, or at least the so-called 'wealthy' countries
that sit in front of the 'magic-story-box' religiously everyday.
I say 'so-called' because we obviously measure wealth in terms
of material gain and not internal peace or gratitude for life.
When television first appeared, like the telephone (see last
article on the changing world of voice-communication: 'Internet
nerds are actually secret prophets who change the way our world
works. Check out Skype, a type of future communication
technology.') TV was an incredible addition to our collective
reality. However, we are in the 'Information Age' and this means
that the ways we do things as a species are changing faster than
you can say, "Humans humorously hunt for humble hints at how to
have more happiness."
The coming of the Internet spells the end of the television era,
and this could also mean the end of years of walking around with
mindless advertising jingles in your head. The other day when I
was washing the dishes I absent-mindedly started to sing the
slogan from one of my local TV channels, "Bringing it home to
you." If these silly songs are what they bring home to me, I am
going to quite happy when they're gone. Thankfully, as TV shows
are already putting episodes on-line these hard-core advertising
techniques may soon disappear altogether. TV on the Internet
means many things for the viewer. As the show is coming straight
to you instead of through the old channel medium, you can have
more control of the show, with elements of video, like pause and
rewind coming into play. Watching a show straight through
without commercials sounds like a godsend indeed. TV websites
will still need corporate sponsorship for promotion elsewhere,
so the concept of 'product placement' that has already come into
play will most probably evolve further, especially in the case
of International companies whose products are available
universally. Hopefully these 'placements' don't go too far from
reality thus taking us metaphorically back to times of 'canned'
laughter and obviously contrived dialogue.
I can just imagine Homer on the 'Simpsons' suddenly changing the
beer he drinks from 'Duff' to Budweiser because it 'tastes great
and is less filling.' As if he ever cared whether his doughnuts
came from Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Doughnuts, or cared about his
weight for that matter! So of course with all changes in life
come both sides of the coin of positive and negative outcomes.
Still, having TV integrated as another of the infinite
capabilities of your personal computer makes life more simple,
not to mention that the quality of the broadcast will be equal
to the latest in digital technology.
Someone will have to figure out what to do in the case of a
person wanting to watch an American show when living in England
or another foreign country. Your Internet Service Provider may
choose to integrate local advertisements into the TV program, as
the American commercials won't be relevant to the viewer
overseas. TV-On-Demand (paying for individual shows) may also
become one of the main viewing options.
The main bonus in having television on the Internet is the idea
that we will have more control over our lives. Instead of having
to watch a show at a designated time that your channel decides,
you will now be able to watch what you want, when you want it.
No more missing shows, having to tape episodes, or worrying
about your kids seeing something that you feel isn't suitable.
The watcher becomes the ultimate controller of viewing reality,
so theoretically life becomes easier. I won't dispute this fact
but I will always be a firm believer that life truly improves
when we improve our attitudes towards it. I also feel that what
we produce presently on television needs to start evolving as
much as the technology that provides it. Violence, crime, murder
and death on the News and primetime are getting as old as my
underwear. I won't mention in what year they were purchased.
Just because there will be less channels to choose from doesn't
mean there will be less to watch. On the contrary, there will
probably be more and more shows and the chance for you to put
your own show out there on a web site means much more variety.
Broadcasters may keep producing groups of shows on websites, but
there will surely be much more competition from producers who
work on their own.