As we all know, and are probably tired of hearing because it makes us so damned depressed, the recession is hitting everyone hard. Businesses are closing left and right, people are losing their jobs, and unemployment rates are hitting levels not seen since the days of leg warmers, headbands and tainted Tylenol. It's bad enough that even if people still have a job, their employers are taking extensive belt tightening measures to make sure they are prepared for the worst.
One of the things being eliminated from families' budgets during this belt tightening is their cable or satellite hookup. With costs that can total over $100 a month, families are just not ready to dump that kind of cash on something they feel doesn't have any value. That doesn't mean they are going without television (especially after the DTV switchover) and turning to a simpler life of canning vegetables, making quilts, and attending square dances. Rather, they are switching off their hi-def flat screens, turning on their computer flat screens, and getting their TV fix over the Internet.
Yes, the continuing convergence of television and the Global Fat Spider Filament (World Wide Web, for the non-replaceable) seems to be picking up speed as the recession continues to bat us down like a cat playing with a catnip mouse. What's happening is people are beginning to realize that a majority of the content they are watching now is available, somewhere, on the Internet, whether it be a network site, one of the video sites like YouTube or the (despised by some) Hulu, or the various torrent sites. And, while there are monthly fees for Internet usage and hardware, most of the time they are half the cost of having both cable/satellite AND web access.
Doubt me? I knew you would, so look at this: in December, Hulu recorded its highest number of unique views with a total of 24 million hits. Joost, another content provider, racked up a nearly 900,000 hours of video hits in January, which was a 25% jump from the month before. All told, viewers in the U.S. watched a record 14.3 billion online videos in December -- a 13% gain from the month before. Granted, 14.2 billion of those videos were on porn sites, but it's still a HUGE number.
Now, as I have mentioned many times when talking about TV on the Internet, standard television viewing is not dead. As not everyone is adept at hooking their 42-inch LCD screen into their PC (myself included), they still rely on standard television when they have the money for it. There's also the broadband factor; not everyone in America has high speed Internet access. Add to these items the fact that not all TV series air on the Internet (like CBS' The Big Bang Theory ... stupid Paramount!) and you still have an imperfect TV-like environment for the Web.
Still, more and more studios and networks are airing their content online and through devices such as Netflix's video streaming box. So, while we can't say, again, that television is dead, we can certainly mention in confidence that a nail has been hammered into its coffin. How long it will take to complete the coffin will depend on government and industry funding for broadband, agreements between Internet companies and studios, and the willingness of the public to switch over. Which means that TV will be around for a long, long time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-07-2009 @ 10:09AM
Loala said...
I stopped watching TV years ago. Can't stand adverts, can't stand having to follow their schedule. if I could do it legally I would.
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2-07-2009 @ 10:05AM
StillBash said...
Hm. If you don't know how to connect your 42" TV to your computer when nowadays these TVs have standard computer inlets... I don't know. The only reason not to get that done is because your computer is in a completely different room and/or too loud to really enjoy watching TV.
Five years ago I managed to hook up a computer I built myself to my 42" plasma with standard S-Video outlet on a Radeon All-in-Wonder and the optical out on a soundblaster extergy. That was complicated and getting that small Shuttle case of the PC quiet was a real ordeal.
Nowadays you can buy computers capable of HDTV output which are quiet on their own for a couple of thousand bucks and then simply use the TVs sold today as if they were a regular PC monitor. It's all become so easy.
But then again I rather sit my ass in front of my 24" 1920x1200 PC monitor hooked up to my Toshiba X200 (with Harman Kradon speakers) and watch TV there on the internet. Because in the recent years with DVR and pause function you started not only to go to the bathroom but also start up your computer (in that other room) and look up something you were wondering about while watching TV. Don't I know that actor? What's that website again I saw an ad for just now? Let me go find out what that product costs and maybe visit a website comparing prices.
And with internet video, you can now sit in front of your computer and do all that without having to stand up. And in the end the difference between a 24" PC monitor and a 42" TV is none because you sit 12 feet away from the one and two to four from the other and anyone who paid attention in school knows that that's the same (with larger pixels on the TV and smaller ones on the computer monitor and the basic rule of perpendicular triangles).
Anyway - I got rid of my 42" plasma when I moved to my current apartment. Got rid of that livingroom and moved to a smaller place and suddenly there was no need for a monitor/tv I would've had to stand up for and place myself in the middle of the 5.1 speakers.
That's basically the only thing I miss. Surround sound. But even that's possible with 5.1 headsets - and you don't want to annoy the neighbours anyway.
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2-07-2009 @ 10:11AM
gonnabechef said...
$10 Netflix + Xbox 360 + antenna + MythTV + Hulu plugin = Comcast TV bill goes from $80/m to $12/m. They have the temerity to jack up prices in this environment? I smell dinosaur stew.
I'm sure they'll raise Internet rates even higher pretty soon to compensate for their failing business model, or impose caps so draconian that streaming won't be possible some day. For now, feels good to tell them to pound sand.
This wouldn't have happened if cable had remained relatively affordable. Where's the $30-$40 a month package? I can pay $0, $12, $57, $91, $101, or $115 -- and then another $7 for HD, plus a host of mystery fees that never add up to the same amount every month. I've had enough.
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2-07-2009 @ 10:19AM
Galley said...
Getting buy on nothing but Hulu videos and video podcasts is easily doable. Live TV is overrated.
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2-07-2009 @ 12:45PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
We did this. We suspended Directv until September when football season starts. Now we use the Roku, DVDs and the internet (connected to a TV) to watch TV. Hulu, Fox, Usa, NBC, CBS - it's all there for us and it just costs us the fees we pay on the internet. No sense in paying for regular TV.
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2-07-2009 @ 2:11PM
Jen said...
I don't have cable. I use my Internets and have Netflix. The lowest package our cable company had was $26 for "basic" cable...channels 2-13 (and you have to think, only 4 of those are worth it). So $26 for four channels, basically. Not happening.
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2-07-2009 @ 2:21PM
Modwild said...
I have my computer in front of my TV so I can have my s-video cord out to my 42 incher and my computer surround stereo speakers are out here, as well. I love it. And don't forget that IMDB now has all of the hulu content plus movies! You can watch whole streaming movies online there. Great old crap and some new crap, too!
I love technology. I think they need to step up the integrated product placement commercials and then they can rely more on internet ratings and less on nielsen ratings.
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2-07-2009 @ 2:29PM
John said...
That's it people, keep migrating to the Internet for TV and then in a couple years you ask why the number of channels starts dwindling. These networks stay afloat from cable subscriber fees - ad revenue is not enough.
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2-07-2009 @ 3:19PM
Modwild said...
Aha! I still have my satellite. I also still have HBO, Cinemax and Showtime. I want it all, all the time, when I want it. I try my best to give up nothing. :-)
2-07-2009 @ 8:00PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
99% of the channels can disappear. They're worthless.
2-07-2009 @ 4:22PM
Nola said...
When my roommate and I moved in together last summer we had plans on buying a tv. We had planned on buying one after we'd both saved some money, but after a while it stopped being something we thought about. We both have computers. We both watch all our shows online. And now the only time we even mention television is when we have friends over and are sitting in the living room.
TV's become moot at this point. Most of the shows I like are available to watch within minutes of ending on some site or the other, so I'm always watercooler ready the next day. And even if I'm not in a rush to watch, the internet has always been the best for being able to watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it, sans commercials.
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2-07-2009 @ 9:04PM
Bob Mc said...
The first thing I did after getting laid off was return my HD DVR to Comcast. I use Hulu (and torrents) to get my TV fix now. Saved $80 a month.
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2-07-2009 @ 10:30PM
Clayton said...
Speaking the truth! The internet is the future of entertainment in every way. Check out my new project at http://makeasitcom.com -- I think it is where television should go! A show run by the fans and general public!
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2-09-2009 @ 12:23AM
Paul said...
I've become an HD snob, and so for me, nothing can replace the TV. Do I watch stuff on my computer? Sure. If I'm away from home, I use my Slingbox to tap into my PVR at home, and for certain shows there are no other options than downloading them (we don't get USA Network in Canada, so "Psych" and "Monk" have to be obtained illegally). But I'd much rather watch something in its full HD glory on the TV. Sure, I can connect my computer to the TV, but it's not the same quality.
Plus, I almost never watch TV as a sole task -- I'm usually working on the computer *while* I'm watching TV. So unless I bought something to give me a 3-monitor output, there's no desktop space to watch a video while also working.
Hopefully the cable and satellite providers start lowering costs, though, instead of raising them. Because otherwise, the non-HD snobs out there (which is most people) won't care where they watch their shows, as long as they can watch them.
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2-10-2009 @ 11:30AM
FoxFan said...
If you want to save money...just get an HD antenna and hook it to an HD ready set. No subscription fees and the quality of the video is superior to what you get on cable or on satellite...no compression...pure HDTV.
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2-09-2009 @ 1:31PM
Jennifer said...
People rag on me for having rabbit ears and no cable, but cable is expensive and I'm hardly home to watch live TV. Netflix does me well for the weekends and almost every show is online the next day legally...a few not so legally. Yay.
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3-22-2009 @ 2:13PM
Jeff in Dallas said...
Someone above said that the PC doesn't give the same video quality. That's incorrect.
My PC is hooked into my big screen TV through HDMI cable and delivers full HD from my PC. Movie downloads are full blu-ray. In fact the picture quality is BETTER from my PC than from my cable box because the cable HD signals are compressed for broadcast. Ever notice how all HD signals are not equal? Some have digital compression artifacts etc. From my PC that is not an issue. I get the full uncompressed HD quality, unlike my cable broadcast.
And my PC sound card plugs into my Onkyo receiver for perfect surround sound.
I still have cable service because I love to watch live sports. I can put a PIP window from my cable box on top of the picture from my PC. For example, as I'm typing this message on my 42" TV, I have a PIP window from my cable box showing in the bottom right corner. I can adjust the size and position of the window so I can work and watch TV at the same time, and switch back-and-forth with the press of a button. The PIP window can be either from the cable box or from my PC.
This is not expensive. I already had the PC that I built for about $450. I added a $125 video card and a $40 sound card. Plus a $40 HDMI cable. Thats it.
I guess my main point is that PC video quality is BETTER than cable company video quality. Due to signal compression by the cable company.
Another benefit is that I watch movies on my PC before they are released. I watched Gran Torino and Batman before they even came out.
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