Poll: Will The Internet Replace Television?

[DannyDamage]

Okay, so I'm into a few shows from the States and I live in the UK. Obviously there's a HUGE difference in air time from USA to UK and I take it upon myself to download these shows from the web.

Because of this routine, I don't watch that much actual TV to be honest, I'll tune into the shows I like when they finally get round to airing them over here. This ends up in a case of me switching my TV on for those shows and those alone. Sometimes I'll watch a little of whatever is the least boring when I go to bed, but nothing more - because I can't be arsed to set a sleep function on my laptop.

So, apart from the regualar TV shows via the internet, I watch a lot of independent stuff (like I'm sure most do) on the internet as well. Youtube obviously gets bigger and bigger each day as well as several similar sites.

I want to know if other people think that this will become more common in the future and eventually everyone will watch "TV" from a computer? I know the modern day elderly people probably aren't going to lead the way but if it is to happen, how soon would it happen? The end of our parent's (basing on my age of 24) generation? Or will it have to wait until the end of our generation (my vote), or will we have to wait longer than that before we're fully integrated into this way of watching?

Surely this will become a better thing for independent TV and film-makers to utilize the internet so that they don't have to be one of the lucky few that get picked to be part of a TV station. They can obviously advertise themselves online and distribute merchandise from their site(s).

This would also create a (personal if nothing else) solution to being stuck with nothing but reality TV, or any other trend TV programs may be going through at the time. Whilst major TV companies would still be able to churn out whatever they wanted on the web, it wouldn't matter because you're not stuck with X amount of channels anymore.

So, is this just wishful thinking on my behalf because this is my situation or do others share my curiosity and suspicions?

Thanks for reading.

PLEASE DISCUSS

 

[Arntor]

Ever since flash video websites have gone up I've completely stopped watching television. Maybe, but probably not, I don't think T.V. isn't going anywhere soon.

 

[Jonathan Hexley]

I don't think the internet will replace television for two reasons.
1. TV is pretty easy to access, and you don't have to wait for the movie to load.
2. TV doesn't remove anime all the time.

 

[Shivari]

Where's the profit in it though? Companies won't make the jump if all they're getting is some small money from advertising. The TV will never die out because the internet isn't more convenient nor is it more profitable for companies. And sure, they might advertise on the net, but if every channel has adverts sites will run out of little boxes at the top and less people will hear of new shows. It would fail horribly. Also, it's generally less convenient. What if the internet is down? What if the site isn't loading right? You just got screwed out of your favorite show.

And independent stuff is already doing the stuff you said. Look at the lonelygirl15 site. They've got a store I believe, but you can't tell me that it's a better situation than for a show that's on TV. Hits on Youtube and such aren't bringing in huge amounts of cash. And I don't see any advertisements on their site, so they can't be making much money at all.

It's not going to happen, just like the idea of everything being downloadable and no DVDs/CDs anymore. For some people it might work out, but the majority of people don't want it. TVs aren't going away and neither are CDs and DVDs.

 

[Cpt. Red]

Maybe some time in the future... But as it is at the moment it will be hard becuase the differences in distribution. In TV there is a large beginning cost while the cost for additional viewers is none while with the internet the beginning cost will be low as all is needed is practically an internet connection and perhaps a website but as the number of viewers grow so does the cost. Because as someone starts to watch that someone needs to use up some of the bandwidth.

 

[DannyDamage]

It's not going to happen, just like the idea of everything being downloadable and no DVDs/CDs anymore. For some people it might work out, but the majority of people don't want it. TVs aren't going away and neither are CDs and DVDs.

That's another story altogether but for the record, I personally would hate that to happen. I like my DVD collection of the films and TV SHOWS that I like and I will always buy them as long as I still enjoy them. Same goes for CDs.

 

[TheGhostOfSin]

Look at the lonelygirl15 site.

I won't be typing that into google, this is a family computer.

 

[Shivari]

Look at the lonelygirl15 site.

I won't be typing that into google, this is a family computer.

Someone missed out on internet fads from 2006/2007!

It's a show in the form of video blogs, not what you seem to be thinking (perv).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonelygirl15

 

[TheGhostOfSin]

It's a show in the form of video blogs, not what you seem to be thinking (perv).

Well why don't you try typing ''Lonely Girl'' into google...
Better yet do it in images. I'm not the perv here Google is!

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Well, though I don't think that the internet is going to take over from TV completely, we are likely to see a big, big change in how it's presented. I think that eventually nearly all TV will be available as an 'on demand' system, much like Sky+ or the BBCi Player. Virtually all of our media appliances are moving towards a convergence of systems, meaning that we can download movies on our Xbox, use the internet with our wii etc etc.

As this progresses and as internet speeds increase, it would make sense for companies to make their programmes available online to download directly into our televisions for when we want to watch them. We can do it already illegally, something I regularly do when I want to watch new episodes of Heroes, Battlestar or whatever else America's ahead of Britain for.

I think within the next 10 years we are likely to see a big merging between television and the internet, and for better or worse, it'll fracture the television market.

Sorry, I study this stuff and can get a bit carried away sometimes...

 

[The Lyre]

Look at the lonelygirl15 site.

I won't be typing that into google, this is a family computer.

Someone missed out on internet fads from 2006/2007!

It's a show in the form of video blogs, not what you seem to be thinking (perv).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonelygirl15

Is this that terrible crap I witnessed being advertised on Myspace once or twice?

If so, I lost a great deal of both my faith in humanity and my faith in the level of talent in this era from watching a few minutes of that.

Awful business.

As for the topic; I watch most of the television programs I keep up with on my computer. Why? Because they come out in America much earlier, making torrents my friend.

So other than comedy on the BBC on a thursday, friday night, I only watch TV on the internet - so for me, yes, it is already replacing television.

Also, Ghost lied to me - there was only one image that could be considered porn, and I believe it was actually related to Lonelygirl15.

 

[DannyDamage]

^^ I wouldn't be typing lonelygirl15 into google anytime soon either.

Whether you like that particular 'show' or not, there'll always be more good stuff available than there would be on TV, regardless of the amount of crap.

Perhaps TV will just take a back seat to the internet like radios did for TV. I guess this discussion happened when TV was and people were concerned of it's potential to swallow the radio industry whole.

 

[Shivari]

It's a show in the form of video blogs, not what you seem to be thinking (perv).

Well why don't you try typing ''Lonely Girl'' into google...
Better yet do it in images. I'm not the perv here Google is!

It's all one word, and it's a well known enough show that it would come up before anything else.

Seriously no one here heard of it? Losers. =P

Is this that terrible crap I witnessed being advertised on Myspace once or twice?

If so, I lost a great deal of both my faith in humanity and my faith in the level of talent in this era from watching a few minutes of that.

Awful business.

I liked it, but some of the actors were pretty bad. And the story became pretty convoluted after Season 1. I'm watching The Resistance now, but it seems to have moved away from the charm of using webcams to being like "Look what we can do with iMovie! Isn't that cool!?!?!"

 

[Gahars]

I think its less the internet replacing tv and more the two formats combining into one sometime in the future, but it's just speculation.

 

[PureChaos]

seeing as you can download and stream pretty much anything at any time the T.V will most likely become less and less used. sometimes it is nice to turn the t.v on a be surprised by some old program or film you havnt seen for years and take a trip down memory lane but thats about it.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I think its less the internet replacing tv and more the two formats combining into one sometime in the future, but it's just speculation.

True, tv will never go away but it will change forms. More on demand viewing, streaming movies, the two mediums will merge to where your TV becomes your computer.

 

[TheGhostOfSin]

It's a show in the form of video blogs, not what you seem to be thinking (perv).

Well why don't you try typing ''Lonely Girl'' into google...
Better yet do it in images. I'm not the perv here Google is!

It's all one word, and it's a well known enough show that it would come up before anything else.

Seriously no one here heard of it? Losers. =P

Yes well that's a very valid poi... HOLY CRAP, YOU'RE SHIVARI!!
Why do you look different? I'm scared and confused.

 

[Spartan Bannana]

Most of the programming these days is sub-par, and also the TV doesn't have you people

 

[Shivari]

It's a show in the form of video blogs, not what you seem to be thinking (perv).

Well why don't you try typing ''Lonely Girl'' into google...
Better yet do it in images. I'm not the perv here Google is!

It's all one word, and it's a well known enough show that it would come up before anything else.

Seriously no one here heard of it? Losers. =P

Yes well that's a very valid poi... HOLY CRAP, YOU'RE SHIVARI!!
Why do you look different? I'm scared and confused.

I wanted a different picture of Hayley. =D

 

[AuntyEthel]

When I lived in South Africa, a show like South Park would literally be about 4 seasons behind, even though they were marketed as "All New Seasons!" I therefore didn't give a green crap about downloading new episodes. Plus you don't get the annoying adverts in between. Besides the mandatory enlarge-your-penis popups.