Last night we turned on NCIS- which is just about the only show I watch on broadcast TV- and I wasn't on. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was instead.
And we turned it off.
A classic Christmas program, one I have enjoyed almost my entire life. And we turned it off. Why?
Because the shows that we once waited all year to see; the shows that defined and delineated the Christmas Season are all sitting on the library shelf; viewable any time, in High Def and without commercials.
Why sit through a program on someone else's schedule when you can view on your own?
In some respects, that is the most modern of TV metaphors, and the reason both broadcast TV and even cable TV is dying.
Yes; you can DVR a show and watch it later. And when you do, do you watch the commercials or zip through them? But cable is $80 a month; Netflix is $8. Save a few bucks and stop paying for channels you never watch; cut the cable. It's happening all over the country.
You can even watch most shows on your computer, at your convenience. No more rushing to meet that 9:00 PM on Thursday time slot. Kick back on Friday when the dishes are done at 6:39 and fire up the show you want to see.
How long until the cable channels get wise and stop distributing shows over cable, but have their channel available internet only? Would it be a successful business model for the History Channel to be available over the Wii? Shows that once were scheduled for Sunday night at 9:00 will now be available for viewing anytime after 9:00 on Sunday.
No more surfing through 90 channels of garbage to see what's on. 50 million homes at $1 a month is some pretty long green. Plus an ad or two at the beginning of the show.
I would go into more detail, but its 9:41PM; I think I'll go fire up something on the Wii; I feel like watching a Mythbusters episode.
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