Will the Web Replace TV? 306
dratcw writes "With the continuing writers' strike cutting way back on the number of new and original TV shows available, many media Web sites are providing alternatives to TV that can be found on the Web. A number of sites are offering features describing broadcast/cable TV alternatives while you wait for that next episode of 'Chuck'. 'What better time than during the writers' strike to (re)discover Internet TV and video? The quantity, quality, and diversity of online video grows by the day; and though it's far from perfect, it is at least interesting enough to make you forget that you're watching it on a PC monitor.'" Any web-based favorites you'd like to point out for fellow commenters?
instead.... (Score:5, Insightful)
i think that soon, our TV's will be a computer with a rather large, high-definition monitor
A pipe is a pipe is a pipe (Score:4, Insightful)
Digital TV - nope.
Re:Comca$t destroyed TV (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if there was a decent amount on tv to watch (which there isn't), it's not like I'm just sitting around all day to watch tv. I might watch a show or two in the evenings after work. What makes them think I'm going to spend that much money on watching 50% adverts anyway?
Basically, as soon as the companies realize that in order to take advantage of the web you must present not only convenience but additionally it needs to be a bit cheaper than the real thing, people will kill their cable service.
The problem is, with technology as it is now, people find driving to walmart, buying a DVD for $11 to be EASIER than getting an online rental that's unlikely to work and costs just as much.
But as far as the potential of the net to kill cable as we know it? Oh it's already there.
Re:Already has. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Already has. (Score:5, Insightful)
Shhh, don't tell the BBC (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe try.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Among the masses or nerds... (Score:3, Insightful)
Will the web replace TV? (Score:1, Insightful)
What a stupid question.
You'd think the billions being poured into this industry would give it away.
Or perhaps the ridiculous amount of lawsuits to stop the people, who are already doing it in droves.
I haven't had a TV since about 2000.
Next article!
Re:Shhh, don't tell the BBC (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't mind paying the UK TV Receiving License ( pays for BBC TV and Radio and some other public service broadcasting)
As long as I don't have to put up with almost 20 minutes Advertising per hour.
I TIVO ( on my Humax PVR) many show on Commercial TV and fast forward over the adverts. I timed an episode of CSI recently. 41m 21sen in an Hour slot. Sorry, I have other things to do with my time. I don't want to watch endless adverts for Holidays or Sofa Sales or Making a Skoda out of Cake.
I expect that of the 'real time TV' I watch is on the BBC.
Yippee, The six Nations starts soon. No adverts while the players get set for a scrum unlike the endless ad breaks that American Footie is designed to give.
To those who decry the Beeb ( and sometimes they do deserve critism), try living somewhere where there is no real choice other than TV with Commercials every few minutes. You will soon say, come back BBC, all is forgiven.
Will the Web Replace TV? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm as much a computer lover as the next person, but there are a number of reasons why a TV currently and will always occupy a niche different from a puter:
1. Bigness. The gap is narrowing, but you can still get a bigger TV for less than a smaller monitor. As far as I can tell, more families have a room based off a TV screen than a computer screen.
2. Options. With monitors, it's either overpriced and pretty from Apple, or less overpriced and less pretty from someone else. With TVs, you can still pick a plethora of options.
3. Ease of use. The wiimote was so revolutionary, but the friggin REmote has been pretty much perfect for decades. It's simple, there's nothing extraneous like apps or downloads or email. You can switch back and forth between hundreds of options seamlessly, whereas on a computer you've got to load up the site and browse to the exact item. If you know what you want, the intarwebs are good, but if you wanna surf, TV is still better.
4. A lot easier to turn on/off.
5. No one is gonna sue you for making a tape of a movie.
The differences are narrowing, but for now, there's definite differences. Something kind of like AppleTV has a definite future in the world but we're still gonna sit around the set for the Super Bowl, not a computer (well, we will, but others won't).
Re:Already has replaced it for the past five years (Score:5, Insightful)
"I'm too intelligent for TV!" I download all my programs, and never watch live events.
"I'm too intelligent for radio!" I have to troll boards and poll my friends to find the latest music.
"I'm too intelligent for books/magazines!" I'd rather carry around a stack of batteries to read something something online and complain about AT&T when my iPhone can't reach my favorite website.
"I'm too intelligent for telephone!" I'd rather IM people than hold a conversation.
The problem is, "I'm not intelligent enough." To get my butt away from the computer.
Not ready (Score:4, Insightful)
I prefer downloading torrents rather than watching a show on the web, but sometimes you can't find a show anywhere but on the TV stations website, so I watched one such show on mtv.com, and err, I don't mind a commercial break, even if it's one commercial every ten minutes, but at least, PLEASE, don't make it be the same fucking el cheapo commercial every single fucking time!
I mean come on, what are you trying to achieve by showing your viewers the same commercial 7 fucking times during a TV show? Will I want to subscribe to Verizon because they interrupted my show 7 times to tell me that "Science is wrong, the world revolves around you" and that because of that I needed unlimited plans or whatever it was they were trying to sell to me (yeah, I saw that commercial like 30 times, I remember every word of it, except the last few which were about what they were trying to sell to me. Oh, and was it Verizon or Vodafone?)? Fat chance, I don't even live in the US!
My point? Oh yeah, if they want Web "TV" to go anywhere as serious as regular TV, they need to be serious about it. Showing many times during a show the same commercial that is so cheap that it doesn't even contain images filmed with an actual camera makes it sound like no one could even be arsed to find more than one company to advertise for, and that this company couldn't be arsed to produce a half decent commercial. I get the feeling that they have no clue what they're missing out.
Competition -- wean thyself from the video teat (Score:5, Insightful)
If you must be entertained, then I suggest you start with borrowing some videos. DVDs/VHS... it doesn't really matter. Reaquaint yourself with the classics -- choose anything from the AFI top 100 list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI's_100_Years..._100_Movies_(10th_Anniversary_Edition))
Once you've gotten that out of your system, try some books on tape. Turn that hour-a-day commute time into something more productive than enduring the Morning Show Morons laughing at how drunk they got the night before or making ill-informed comments about the news of the day.
After a few weeks of books on tape, try reading a book. I know, I know -- you don't have time. Try it anyway. Read it during your lunch break. You'll eat more slowly and may lose a few pounds as a result. Spend an hour at night. If you take a train or bus, read it then. You'll be surprised at how quickly the time passes! If you're not sure what to read, choose anything which has won a Nebula Award which should appeal to the
Wouldn't it be nice if there were a television writer's stike and no-one noticed? After this exercise I suspect you'll find that your appetite for television entertainment has decreased. That's a good thing... it indicates you're more alive and using your mind actively rather than being passively entertained. There's life outside of television. Go find it.
Re:instead.... (Score:1, Insightful)
TV has a bandwidth edge, not a content one (Score:4, Insightful)
Not happening (Score:3, Insightful)
There isn't anything on the web that can make me forget I'm watching it on a PC monitor - because my computer room isn't nearly as comfortable as my living room.
Sure hope so (Score:3, Insightful)
Give me a single high-bandwidth data pipe to my TV, and source material & providers geared toward the TV-style viewing experience.
Cable/satellite/broadcast had their chance to provide what customers wanted: a variety of good material, without commercials, on demand or in a casual drop-in format. Like so many practical monopolies, they forgot who their customers are. Now that broadband exists, others can provide what customers want. Let's get a move on, people!
Finally, someone with common sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, none of those iTunes downloads or Torrents would exist if there were no TV.
I don't think the WEB will replace TV. I think there might be something that's more interactive than TV, but less interactive than the Internet. The On-Demand stuff is a step in that direction.
Now, I've watched movies on the computer screen, and I've watched TV shows there too. But it's never as comfortable as lounging on the couch. The remote control is easy to hold, easy to use; you generally don't even have to look at it. There's a few hundred channels to choose from on most cable systems, and personally I can always find something to watch. It might be something I've seen before, but don't mind watching again, or it might be something new. The HD channels are where I spend most of my time. Between Discovery, HD Theater, Science and TLC, and sometimes HGTV, I can usually find something interesting enough to watch.
When I'm in for the night, and I'm settling down, I don't want to deal with crappy web pages and CLICK HERE!!! flashing crap I have to click around. I don't want to deal with server down, server overloaded, or whatever. I just want to watch TV.
I like TV. There's several shows that I think are top notch. I don't mind waiting for the next installment of whatever show. It's okay. Maybe it's part of getting a little older, or maybe it's because the Internet was only becoming a word that people knew when I was a Senior in high school. Perhaps I just have more patience for these things.
Writers Strike, Television Loyalty and More (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Comca$t destroyed TV (Score:3, Insightful)
The real problem with the "web" replacing TV is that few people want to sit in front of their comptuer to watch TV/movies. While the "internet" may kill cable (unllikely as cable companies probably already control your internet), the "web" most certainly won't kill "TV". Whatever transmission medium is, it has to have a set top box or some other dedicated entertainment center hardware to view on a large screen in front of your couch. Nothing less than that will replace traditional cable TV.
I doubt the cable companies will give up so easily. Before we see wide-spread internet video (not just YouTube, but full shows and movies), we'll see cable companies offer more and more On-Demand programming. If I could get any show or movie on demand with the ability to skip commercials over cable and only pay for what I view (and not have to pay for 100 channels I never even browse), there'd be no reason to bother with video in a browser for anything more than YouTube.
-matthew
Re:Already has. (Score:3, Insightful)
And that, of course, is what the WGA strike is all about: the writers don't get residuals from videos released over the Net, even though that's the direction all of the studios and networks are heading towards.
Re:instead.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Not until it's as easy as watching TV (Score:3, Insightful)
Not until it's as easy as pushing "1" "2" on a remote and the channel working do I see this as replacing TV. The key word was replacing.
It already has in my house (Score:3, Insightful)
He's fairly similar to most teens nowadays.
The change already happened.
And the nutso TV/movie insistence on not paying writers is just making people stop watching TV.
Re:Comca$t destroyed TV (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Already has replaced it for the past five years (Score:3, Insightful)