LA Times: Broadcasting Is Dead
May 27th, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: Internet TV, VideoThe LA Times, of all places, says that broadcasting is dead:
Broadcasting, simply put, isn’t casting broadly anymore.
As the sweep suggests, the TV networks are losing not just their viewers but also their sense of specialness. They’re becoming just the lowest numbers on the multichannel dial, rather than the last outposts of mass culture. It’s true that this evolution has been happening for years, but this year a tipping point was reached, a Rubicon crossed. Broadcast exceptionalism — its supposed immunity from the market forces afflicting all other media — is finally dead.
And that, fellow viewers, is a huge problem for those acronymic “legacy” networks. One, it undercuts executives’ argument to advertisers that broadcast still delivers the most bang for the buck of any media (negotiations for the sale of bulk ad time next TV season are taking place right now, an inconvenient moment to be sure from the networks’ standpoint). Also, the broadcasters’ economic model, as it currently stands, is simply unsustainable compared with that of their chief competitors, cable networks.
Much of the audience is moving to cable, but many viewers are also abandoning traditional television for Internet TV. Just as some people are abandoning traditional phone lines for cell phones, some viewers are realizing that everything that the like to watch is available via the Internet.
With the audience for Internet video headed towards 1 billion viewers, it’s clear where the growth is, where advertisers are going to move their money and where the future of television is going.
[…] Show Notes: NASA and Firefox – Software Two of us having trouble with United – Service YouTube – ViaCom Copyright Showdown – Legal Google Maps New Features – Internet 7000 US Server Farms – Internet Finding Titanic the Bigger Story – Information German Phone Company Spying – Crime Dreamhost No More Email Please – Service Phoenix Lander Pics from Mars – Space Photo GeoTagger – Hardware SATA HDD Dock – Hardware Netflix Hack – Software Side Impact Crash Detection – Science Geek Car Toy – Hardware Windows 7 Interview Feedback – Software 1 Billion Video Watchers by 2013? – Internet Copyright Discussion – Internet RIAA and AllofMP3 – Internet Borders back to Web – Commerce Google and Privacy Statement Placement – Internet Web 2.0 requires Copyright Abolition? – Commerce Psystar updates Open Computer – Hardware Ban PDA in Theme Parks? – Society Cloud Computing – Information NASA beats Discovery – News Phoenix Info – Space Hope Module to ISS on Saturday – Space Skydiver Follies – Information American Airlines Baggage Issue – Commerce VCR with USB Hookup – Hardware Hot Springs on Mars? – Science MRO picture of the year – Space Broadcasting is Dead – Commerce […]