The end of an era

Broadcast television as you and I know it will be going bye-bye soon and I couldn’t be happier. Ok maybe not gone forever, but definitely changing.  For the last 6 months I have been watching less broadcast television and more online content. Thanks to Boxee, Netflix and Hulu, my experience with programming has been more concise and less time-consuming. I don’t spend hours of time searching through hundreds of pointless channels infested with garbage. I can easily find what I want to watch – watch it – then get on with my life. Perfect. I actually find that I’m more productive this way.

With talk of Hulu going to a subscription base and the Wall Street Journal charging for online content – free resources on the Internet are going away. But I don’t mind. If I could pay a subscription fee (similar to Netflix’s model) to watch the content that I want to watch – when I want to watch it – then I say go for it. It will be cheaper than my satellite service and more efficient. Maybe I’m just optimistic, but to me this is good news for the production industry. It means more jobs, more outlets and more choices. After seeing this article at Broadcasting & Cable, I think other big broadcasting related companies are making the transition. It looks like Neilsen (the staple in tv ratings measurment and the reason that stations make money) is jumping on the “how do we make money in online video” bandwagon and partnering with DataLogix. Hmmmm…interesting.

Then I noticed this yesterday from Gizmodo and I realized that this switch to online video is going to happen sooner than I thought.  Apple is getting into the mix and they are trying to tie everything into iTunes.  I called this a few months ago!  Apple has something up their sleeve with regards to TV.  This is all just rumor and speculation but in my mind Apple TV is going to be something big.  If they didn’t have plans for it they would have discontinued it long ago.  Just you watch . . .

So what does this mean for you?

If you’re just starting out in this industry you might be thinking that this is bad news.  On the contrary,  this is great news because it’s going to open up new doors for content providers.  Perhaps the “start your career at a TV station and work in news production” model is going away (or changing) for young people – but that shouldn’t scare you.  With the advent of cheaper equipment, the shift has been towards small production companies anyway.  Now that online content is becoming mainstream, the opportunity for anyone to have a hit show on their hands is much greater than years ago.  Once a new show gets a following, the advertisers will come.  With advertisers comes money and with money comes job opportunites.  I’m a bit of an optimist, sure, but I definitely see this as the future of video entertainment.

TV is ready for some new technology

The biggest thing to happen to television since the switch to color was the addition of time-shifting (thanks to TiVo) and that was like 10 years ago. HD was supposed to be something revolutionary but to me it’s just a mess. No real standards and the stations are still recording in SD and upconverting. That always looks awesome – and by awesome I mean sucks.   Come on online video – I’m rooting for you!

Photo: Corrêa Carvalho