We've been hearing this for quite some time now, how the internet will eventually replace television. I still don't believe it will happen anytime soon, if at all, but this Slate article makes several good points. One of them: why don't the networks use BitTorrent so viewers can watch their TV shows online? Why not embrace the technology (and quickly) rather than sue companies later?
Anyway, the article gives some solutions for the network, and also touches on Apple's recent announcement about having various shows available via iPod. The times, they are a changin'.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-18-2005 @ 4:15PM
Keith McDuffee said...
I can think of several reasons why the networks don't embrace downloading of their shows. One is obviously the commercials that people will find a way to skip. The other is ratings. How will they know how many people are watching the shows if they're being served up all over the place? And those ratings matter to advertisers, of course.
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10-18-2005 @ 5:05PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Its real easy Keith... Dump the advertising model all together. Let your download price cover your revenue.
Ratings? Get rid of the antiquated nielsen system all togehter. Those fortune tellers have had a monopoly stranglehold on the television world for way too long.
If 23 million people download your show, you know youve got something good.
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10-18-2005 @ 6:55PM
chuck said...
Bittorent doesn’t spell death to TV
Rather it spells death to current advertising model, where advertisers do know very well who their customers are, but TV studios don’t have a faintest idea who’s actually watching. The result: pampers, credit cards and washing liquids all the time. People download shows and buy TIVOs not because they are malicious, but because they are pissed with current advertising model. So both TIVO and bittorent are about to bring this model down.
What’s next? We’re working on it! A system, where TV studios know their customers. They know our habbits, interests. They suggest programs that they know we’ll like. And yes, they show ads, but just ads that we will find useful and interesting to watch.
All the possible content is stored on the studio’s computer. The cable box actually matches what it knows about your habits and interests against what it knows about programs and advertiser’s targeting.
But once the studio is in charge, who needs ‘channels’? There’s no more ‘live air’, just content. So why not buy content directly, from a production company?
This is the end of TV as we know it since TV-channels (the heart of today’s advertising model) are about to die.
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10-18-2005 @ 10:25PM
Bruce Wayne-Johnson said...
Bit Torrent is NOT the formal that TV should be downloaded...BT was created and is used as a way to ESCAPE persecution from legal entities because unlike the easily bustbale Naptser and Kazaa the files do not stay on any main computer system therefore its harder to bust someone.
If the networks wanted to get their show out they would use a faster download model - currently on average a 1-hour drama takes anywhere from 4-5 hours to download. If the networks get involved it should be available from their servers in 20-30 minutes and they can also see where people are DLing from and feed ads to them while the show is downloading.
The advertising should be placed on the bottom of the screen like how networks so now when they tell you what is on next. Its obtrusive but to get my shows online I'm willing to pay or take these kinds of ads.
Apple has revolutionized the world AGAIN - the Video Ipod will change everything. Steve Jobs is forcing content makers to think now about how to make money off their content from the internet!
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10-19-2005 @ 11:22AM
Akbar Fazil said...
The video Ipod will change nothing. It may alert content makers that their is a market for different delivery of shows, but at such a low rsolution, people will not ultimately switch.
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10-19-2005 @ 2:36PM
Brent McKee said...
I'm not sure that online delivery of shows is really going to take off until there is significant content that is only available by downloads. There are people who are trying it now but they tend to be very niche driven. The Video iPod is significant in that it is the first time that a major network has acknowledged the existence of downloading content and made an effort to cash in, but the screen is too small to make it worth the trouble, and the resolution on the content is specifically for the iPod and therefore useless for anything bigger.
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10-19-2005 @ 3:30PM
SamMalone said...
The networks won't embrace this anytime soon, but I could see production companies making this work. "The Kitchen", "E-Ring" or whatever might not have enough viewers to hold a primetime spot, but if they could work out a business model (built-in sponsorships or whatever), they could cover production costs and not be boxed-in by the big media companies.
It just seems silly to me that I have to schedule shows I want to record so I can skip what I don't want to watch and watch them on my own schedule.
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