Thursday, February 11, 2010

TV Shows on the Web



The article "TV Shows on the Web: The Haggling Begins," talks about the possibility of cable subscribers cancelling their subscription to Comcast, or DirectTV, to simply watch their favorite television shows on the Web at a much lower cost. It truly does not seem that far fetched with online programs like Hulu. Chief Executive of Disney Robert Iger truly believes that we are headed in this direction and wants his company to be the first to offer the capability. The article also talks about ways cable companies are trying to prevent customers from ending their service. The article suggests that cable companies will not give up without a fight and are coming up with innovative ideas to prevent subscribers from discontinuing their cable service. "How they would do so isn't clear, although cable companies such as Time Warner Cable (TWC) are already working on ways to bill folks for time they use the Internet" (Grover p.1).


This article raises several different insights and possible trends that could take place. One major trend could simply be word of mouth from one person to another. For example, my brother told me about Hulu last year. Ever since he told me I very rarely watch my favorite television show (The Office) on NBC anymore. Now I watch the episodes at my convenience on Hulu or any other television streaming network website. My parents however, do not know how to use Hulu and are subjected to television viewing. I feel if more people knew about Hulu, and knew how to operate the technology on the site than more and more cable subscriptions would vaporize. Another major idea that will continue to evolve from TV shows on the web is the ability to connect your laptop to your HD television so you can watch your favorite television shows on you're television instead of your computer. This will make people want to really drop their cable service when they have mass amounts of television programs that can be streamed from their laptop to their 50 inch LCD HDTV.
The book offers a new idea I have never heard of before to watch your favorite television shows anywhere without infringing copyright laws. The device that is talked about in the book is called a Slingbox. "Hook your home cable or satelite to the Slingbox and then tune into all of your channels with a broadband connection from any remote location" (pg. 316).
It seems that the world is changing and people can choose the way they want to get their information and entertainment. The days of sitting around the television with the family could soon be gone. Or will they?





Olympics 2010: NBCU's HD Leap Into Vancouver

The Olympics have always been a major interest of mine whether it be Summer or Winter. There is something about the best athletes in the world all competing at the same time that really grabs my interest. When I discovered the article " Olympics 2010: NBCU's HD Leap
into Vancouver," I knew it was something that could relate to the Broadcasting Industry as well as keep me intrigued with the information. The article specifically talks about how the 2010 Winter Games will be the first to be produced and broad casted completely in high definition. The article also talks about how the NBCU staff will be covering more of the Olympic games then ever before with 835 hours across its broadcast, compared to 419 hours in Torino, Italy in 2006. The last major idea the article talks about is the NBCU Olympics staff has worked together to reduce some of the complexity in NBCU's over technical plan, primarily with streaming on on demand video coverage for the fans. NBCU wants to make their Olympic website easier and more user friendly.

This will be the first Olympics in high definition but certainly not the last I predict. I feel this will definitely start a trend and more people will want to get HD televisions so they can appreciate the Olympics in a much better way. I also feel the adjustments that are being made by the NBCU Olympics staff on their website will lead to more users that want to catch important highlights from their favorite athletes. I feel that more companies will follow the lead of NBCU, and create On Demand websites of important events that are aired on their networks. My text book suggests that not many homes have HD televisions but eventually change will come, and more homes will have HD televisions. "To date, only a small portion of television and radio programming reachRemove Formatting from selectiones homes in HD, but change is coming" (pg. 2). This proves that just like NBCU decided to switch Olympic broadcasting to HD, eventually the people at home will want to do the same thing.
One problem I see with families making the transition from a Standard TV to an HDTV would have to be the cost. These are hard times for Americans economically and buying a brand new HD ready television may not be in the families best interest. Prices on HDTV's have dropped slightly in recent years, but I feel the cost of these HD ready televisions play a huge a roll in the lack of homes that have the technology. The relationship between my example, and the article is that although the Olympics will be broad casted in HD most homes will not have the technology to view the event in HD and will be forced to watch the Winter Games on a standard television. Perhaps this major event will influence people to upgrade their technology.