"Reports of my Death have been greatly exaggerated.... "

"Reports of my Death have been greatly exaggerated.... "

Said the Television Industry to the Media,



Over the last few years media pundits have have been predicting the downfall if not death of traditional television.
Due to both the advent of the Internet and DVD, high definition and the ability to take your media almost anywhere you go. Yes portable media is nice, handy and a nice way to kill time while waiting for doctor,ect, It will never replace the experience of sitting in your favorite lounge chair watching a High Definition Movie with 7.1 surround and eating your favorite snack, and when its over turning out the lights and going straight to bed, without driving a hour to get home.
In spite of all of the types of media there are, and ways in which one can listen to, or watch the main hub to organize and centrally locate the source seems to be some kind of media server, which uses your tv as a display screen to both navigate your media, and play it.
our old friend, Microsoft has a media server,which from what I have seen in on-line demo clips show it looking pretty good, But they didn't say exactly what was under the pretty interface, Of course it didn't crash during the demo. The idea of ripping all your movies onto a couple of huge hard drives and watching them form one box on any tv in the house is both nice, and scary at the same time.
However, with the move to a all digital format in February of next year and the popularity of content from many other sources It no wonder the death dredge for tv has been sounded.
I think it a lot premature to call the television industry dead. As long as there is mass marketing there will be mass media of some sort. Television will evolve and programing will change and the interface will change, however the lure of sitting mindlessly watch a show all evening is still strong. Hopefully the content will improve. Anyone who has followed my blog for anytime know I have little use for 99% of the new content of tv today.
What the networks are starting to understand is that the days of a captive audience are over. They have been , for the last 20 plus years when VCR and cable came along, as soon as consumers had more choices and the ability to tape something and watch when they wanted, they weren't as tied to schedules and being there when a show was on. and of course they had more shows to tape..

The tie-in between the web and the tv is getting tighter every month. Both Playstation3 and XBox360 are positioning themselves to become a media hub in the living room. Not just a box to play games on. Thats not even counting the dedicated media servers and other ways to get content to the tv.

The media content providers are saying that revenue are down. Viacom just released 2nd quarter statements, basically saying that ad revenue was stalled had only grew worldwide by 2% and US Ad sales only 1%. Which means they're not selling the ads like they had been and they fewer people are seeing the ads they do sell. Link to story;

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/07/how-american-yo.html

You can read it and draw your own conclusions, Essentially the MTV generation is moving away from just sitting in front to their black box for hours at a time. They want their media with them, wherever they go, Be it MP3s notebook, or a device that plays everything from music to full motion video on a small portable screen.
The Television and Movie industry have to accept that they're not the only game in town anymore. With new computer coming out that are designed to be used as both a tv and a computer, playing content from other sources is even easier and more of a option for many folks.

The choices of content to stream on you computer, and hopefully eventually stream directly to you tv and sound system have grown considerably over the last year or so, The start with Google Video and now Youtube have opened the door for many types of streaming media to be available and the growth of broadband have allowed more people to take advantage of their faster connection by doing things they never dreamed of, Such as streaming classic tv shows on their laptops while sitting in a MacDonald's, or Starbucks or even the Library. The point is they have more options.

The top of the tv streaming heap is Hulu.com. launched back in March it is already racking up huge number of streams and users. 83 million in June, and it keeps going up. Why all the hulua over Hulu.com? For several reasons: One picture quality is excellent, while its not as good as watching natively on you tv, its the best I've seen online. However their compressing the feed , it opens and plays with very little shudder or lag most of the time. Compared to YouTube, its night and day. The other big thing is their selection. While they have a large number of newer programs, they have a even larger number of old classic tv, Which is great way to introduce a young person to shows you watched as a kid and still miss. While there are commercials during the shows they well spaced out and VERY sort, ie 15-30 seconds and right back to the program your watching.
Another contender for tv viewing time is DVDs. With the drop in price for a standard definition DVD player to well under a $100. most everyone has some kind of player, that not even mentioning all the Sony PS2 out there that play dvds and are used as stand alone players, and rarely play games. Of course the Movie studio have been crying pirertcy and that they're losing money for years.
With all of theses and more options available to the consumer is it a wonder that the Tv-land is shaking in its boots. There are surveys that say as much as 20% watch tv on the internet, and it will probably grow, The networks need to work to provide a wider platform to allow viewers to watch whenever they want. One may catch a show as its broadcast one week, and the next week be busy and not able to see the show, being able to go to the web and watch the show you missed and keep up is something that networks need to work on. On the web side commercials need to be kept to a mimmium or they'll drive viewers to other sources for the programing they want, and not watch the "Official" streaming version. Also the ability to download shows and watch later is also something that networks need to work on, But then there you get into the Dirty word...DRM...
Once you start actually downloading material, your opening the door to DRM issues and how dose the network control its material once its downloaded.
To compete and hold its own with the new medias coming out almost daily, the networks need to rethink their stragies, the old captive audience has long ago unlocked he door and flew away. Web content should add to the viewing experience, with such things ans interview with actors, producers ect, and behind the scene looks at how the show is made, maybe even web only offering to ad to the knowledge of the background stories of the show. this would keep viewers on the"official" site and probably make them more interested in watching the show on tv more often. By embracing the new media and helping the audience enjoy their favorite shows how and where they want to, they will in the long run build up the viewer ship they and their advertisers crave. Television has to continue to evolve with the demands of the audiences, or the television industry as a whole will wind up in the same shape as the recording industry has in the last few years. Trying to control their material and protect their precious copyright will strengthen the consumers view of the tv industry as Big Brother, and put them in the same light and breath of disdain of the RIAA. And No one wants to be thought of on their level.


Here are some Links to check out:

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/07/hulu-is-kicking.html

http://www.betanews.com/article/Surveys_Many_people_are_now_watching_TV_online/1217453732#c1785095



http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/07/30/online_tv#cooliris



http://www.topix.net/forum/source/chicago-tribune/TSIIHOURCUEE25DGC

A Ride in My Way Way Back Machine... & Back Again

Its been a busy couple of weeks around here, between spring and spring stuff needing to be done and my wife's work I discovered that my pacemaker of 14 years finely died. Its not something that just suddenly happened. It had probably been slowly dying over the last several months probably, any rate it finely quit completely. Of course it then needed to be changed.
I have a very usual heart condition that I was born with, called transportation of the great vassals, which in in simple terms means that the blood wasn't flowing through my heart the way it dose in everyone Else's heart. In in 1961 there was very little that could be done. They went in and opened up the hole that was supposed to close when I was born, didn't thus allowing blood to back flow into the body and give me oxygenated blood, When I was about 6 weeks old or so they went in and made it bigger and sent me home. There wasn't anything more that they could do so they sent me home. I was what was called back then a blue-baby, due to the lack of oxygenated blood in my system. Several years later a surgery called the Mustard Procedure was developed and I was the first in the us to have it and survive. Fast forward many years which the many folks didn't know exactly what to do with me, and I did many things which I was never supposed to to do: .Like graduating high school with a regular diploma. I have since married and have four kids the oldest of which is now 20. There are still limitations on what I can do and how much I can do especially as I get older.
I am very glad to say that everything went better then expected I was in and out the same day. and so far have had no problems.


I have said all of this as a way of say that technology has imported itself into out lives in so many ways that we don't even realize it anymore. from the watch that we wear, that tell us not not only the time, date month, timer, countdown timer, I've seen some with calculators and even heartbeat monitors and have mp3 players and thumb drives all on your wrist, the countless little toys you can put in your pocket,


While I was busy with my pacemaker and other spring projects I kept a eye on all things tech..I followed the proposed merger of Microsoft and Yahoo. while I not a fan of either I really wasn't thrilled with the idea of Microsoft and Yahoo joining at the hip, so to speak, I for one,and glad it went south. I also see that Echostar lost the suit with Tivio and while the final results aren't in yet the principle is set and it doesn't bode well for the future of in general and other recording devices in general.

The discussion of DRM is a hot button, that most folks don't know enough or care about enough to know about. I have tried recently to start discussions with folks about this type of subject and they look at me like I've lost my mind or an talking about a scientific principle they never heard of before. The only time I get any response is when I'm "preaching to the choir" so to speak. Regular folks don't understand whats at stake, and by the time they figure out what DRM is its have their media all locked down and they wouldn't know what to do to get around the locks or even care to.

I have also been reading about the resurgence of LP, remember them?, the big flat round disc you played music on, years ago..? True audiophile say they sound better in many ways then a CD, I can't tell personally, they all sound good. Whats interesting is the number of turntables being issued that have usb capabilities, allowing you to easily convert you collection of oldies to mp3 or whatever your favorite format is and play it on your Portable MP3 player. So its safe to say that the LP isn't dead yet. With new ways to make the music that on them playable in many more places and formats. This is whole niche market that the record companies can't get their hooks into, the LPs were bought and paid for years ago and any royalties have been payed years ago they're a dead issue as far a the labels are concerned, However, the number or artist releasing new material in both a digital format and also offering a LP version is increasing . I just saw that Amazon has come up with a way to offer out of print albums back on the market by doing a print to order type of model, something which has been done for books for several years.
Some other items that caught my attention was the proposed Microsoft/ Yahoo merger, which fizzled out as I had hoped it would. I have no love for either MS or Yahoo and the idea of them merging was rather unsettling. Ms has too much power on the desktop, and has it hands full trying to keep Vista alive and keep anyone who can from either staying with XP or completely jumping ship to either Linux or Mac. Not to mention it other projects,ie, Xbox/360 and the 2nd generation Zune. Yahoo has its own set of problems such as loosing the search competition from Google. While the the Yahoo mail dose offer many of the same productivity features Google dose, just not with Google's interface and style and simplicity.
Face it, Saying you a Gmail address just sounds better then @Yahoo.com

This month marks the 10 year of the passing Frank Sinatra. Long lauded as one of this Century's greatest crooners and performers. While his presence was felt through most of his life, it seems to be coming back, again. I have always appreciated his music, there are certain songs of his that I love. I've seen many of the movie,and understand why he has the following he did and still dose. Many of his movies and much of his music is being reissued on dvd/cd in anniverisesary collections . All of this is well and good, and should be done. It should be remember that off stage he had a life and left 3 kids who have to live with his legacy and being children of a icon. The next question is, is there someone today preforming that people will release 10th anniversary collection of his 50+ year old work, 10 years after their death? To my mind, the answer is no.
Granted the entrainment business has always been a commercialized business, object being to make money, however, in the last 30+ years the business has been putting the dollar above making and promoting artist expression and making movies that push people to think. a classic example is. "In The Heat of The Night" when the White Plantation owner slapped Virgil Tibbs and Tibbs slapped him right back , and the Sheriff sat there and watched and didn't say a word. recently I heard a story that Nelson Mandel saw that movie while he was in exiled in South America, and he noticed there was a cut, but it wasn't until years later when we found out what was in that cut,; it was that scene,. In recent years there has been more in the way of indie film making and distributing, Because big movie houses don't want to back anything that's different, and now with the Internet and other distributing means a writer producer can bypass the MPIAA, and if he's lucky have them come knocking on his door.
Well, I hope that you have found my ideas worth waiting for and interstring reading if you like to comment please feel free to,,

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