Although this video clip is comical, it brings about a good observation about most of us, we are addicted and have been addicted to television. The minority in this country and many other s are those that do no watch or own a television set. With an average of most US households owning at least 2 television sets. However with the ever expanding Internet, advances in technology, and more and more people disconnecting their cable and moving toward an Internet based TV, where does this take good old fashioned television and its programming?
I found an article that was posted on Yahoo.com 's home page today with the headline "Nearly 800,000 U.S. TV households 'cut the cord,' report says.." In this article it discusses this ongoing trend of people ditching their current cable and dish television service providers and moving toward an internet based way of viewing television programs through services on the web. Services like Hulu.com, Netflix, Youtube are making it easier and easier for people to find television programming on the internet.
In addition to these service providers technology is beginning to integrate the Internet with the television set in new ways. The XBOX 360, Playstation 3, and Wii entertainment systems offer a variety of applications that allow for viewing television media some of these applications are integrated with Netflix and Youtubeand provide seamless integration of TV and Web.
Aside from these highly advanced video game entertainment consoles TV manufactures like Samsung are pushing to create a web compatible television set that allows for a unique experience of Web content in addition to normal television programming.(see article here) This new technology is creating a whole new experience of interaction while at the same time reshaping the market in which media producers use to provide content. Video killed the radio star but will Internet kill the television star?(cliche I know)
So where does the future of television end up? In the ten years I see the television set reinventing itself to fit in with our technology and internet obsessed culture. Great strides have already begun to incorporate the TV into our wirelessly connected world with information, media, culture, and all being brought to us on our handheld devices, laptops, iphones, ipads..etc. Surely TV will not go away Americans fell in love with the picture box the moment it hit store shelves and is becoming a permanent fixture in our lives. It may not be the same TV of years ago but it will not go away. It will adapt to fit our life styles and re assert its position of the center of the household.
I like how you incorporated gaming consoles into your article. They are the beginning of connecting television and the Internet. Using these consoles on your television, you can connect to the Internet and interact with other people and share ideas. The Internet is a truly remarkable thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the television won't become extinct anytime soon. People love the idea of the TV way to much! The industry that I can see suffering from all of this is the cable networks. With the new capabilities took hook a laptop to a TV to watch online programing is great and the TV industry is only boosted for that option. It is the cable industries that need to come up with a way to make their product marketable once again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about how TV's will probably never leave the household. People really did fall in love with it when it came out, and continue to be in love with it today! (sounds weird, I know) I think that, for pure nostalgic effect, TV's will be around - and not just Internet TV's - I also think that good ol' fashioned televisions will be around just as a piece of vintage history.
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