Television on demand
My friends know that I don’t have television at home. So do many of my friends. Some of them have a TV set, but no cable subscription to TV channels - so they use TV set only as a screen for their home cinemas. Others, like me, even don’t have a screen. No-TV phenomenon is big around me, and those who are neglecting TV channels have similar arguments - “I watch only things I select myself”, “I save time for more useful things”, “My brain is not washed with outrageous propaganda that comes with TV media” etc.
I also support no-TV camp, and the argument about wasted time is something I am ready to sign under. But I admit that rarely, I need to watch some TV program. And here again, it counts where on Earth you live. Without any problem, one can buy episodes of latest US soap operas on iTunes Store. But for the rest of the world, one can rely only on those enthusiasts, who for some reason publish aired programs on YouTube. I sometimes come to YouTube to see some particular Russian TV show. But in the age of HD, it is ridiculous to see low definition clips in the browser.
I would definitely like the possibility to buy _any_ show from _any_ tv channel in the world. That is something similar to the fact of getting information off the internet nowadays. Just the common standard is missing, as well as common monetization infrastructure. Until then, we are limited to poorer options.
Another problem is that TV channels here in Estonia suck. I have no any wish to watch them. Given the size of their audience and budgets they live on, there is no even hope they will get any better. Cable operators compensate this sad fact with transmitting foreign channels, which include Russian, German, Ukrainian, Finnish channels, as well as ViaSat channels and obvious BBC, CNN, Euronews. Probably I am a freak but having all of them would annoy me. This is ridiculously stupid to randomly walk through the channels, searching for someone good. Everyone has their favourite channels, while others are just a ballast used as a marketing stuff. “Hey, join us, we show 76 channels!” - why should I? I would hardly watch 20 of them. OK, I can spend an hour and hide all channels I don’t need, but the problem is that I should pay for the package that contains 20 channels I need and 56 channels I don’t need.
Of course, I need those channels which are available in biggest and most expensive packages. The idea “you get 56 more channels for free” is flawed, I don’t need free shit. I would like to have possibility to select my 20 channels and pay only for them. I know pretty few about technical side of cableco business, but living in XXI century sets high expectations. I fail to understand why it is not possible.
With all this rant, I want to say only one thing - TV is yet in its infancy from tech-savvy consumer’s point of view. It will be interesting to see what dies first - traditional TV, because of its stagnation, or internet-based TV on demand, because of congestion in the cables.
5 years ago we would think crazy to have the whole music collection in one iPod, and wirelessly get WallStreetJournal on Amazon Kindle. I hope next 5 years will bring enough innovation to TV as well.