Where's media going?

H

henryw25

New member
It's been a while since I made post since work blew up in my face, but this is one I think is very worth a debate / chat in public forum here.

Some might remeraber back about a year or a year and a half ago, I made a huge thread talking about the possibility of streaming becoming a reality over the subscription of cable.

In the recent past (Last 3 months), we've seen some major, major, major changes in the direction of networks.

Here are some recaps for those who haven't been paying attention to the news / online streaming market:

The borab shell that just hit today is that Viacom and Time Warner are duking out an ordeal that Viacom wants to increase the cost for delivery of the channels they own which include but are not limited to Comedy Central, Nick and MTV while statistically (based on G4, I'm sure more experts around here might have a better grasp of this) viewership is dwindling a bit in the last year. Time Warner has accused Viacom of "They're trying to have their cake and eat it too online, where anybody can get it for free.”, this is all in light of a recent article by BBC that suggests American Consumers could see their Cable bills go up 33% this year. Viacom seems to be one of the networks riding this in.

As I said, this is only the most recent borab shell, but other recent things have been happening. The RIAA recently and finally just had some revelation where they now realize how badly their rep is in the US and wish to attempt to repair it a bit by starting to work more towarRAB giving end users more access via digital steaming and digital copies at cheap, inexpensive rates. They even pointed at themselves and laughed about how they tried to sue dead people and tried to sue the entire country in their witty press conference over the ordeal. Dare I say, could things like ThePiratesBay.com actually be wining the fight for easier access to media?

Some more CONCERNING matters for this forum is the recent change in the direction of how we can obtain Anime, especially in the US. For years upon years, many people in this forum have found sources to get their anime that are, well, let's just say less then legit. Recently however, with the fall of Toonami, the only source for their programs in the US is now www.Toonami.com which is, 100% streamed. It's also recently been stated that Naruto will now air within 1 week of premiers in Japan in the US via Naruto.com. When one steps back to look at the grand scape of things, almost every major network (NBC, ABC, Fox, 4KiRAB, 'Toonami') have streamed services.

Heck, even Netflix, Blockbuster and other various “rental” companies now offer movies online. Even things like Xbox 360, Sony PS3 and now Wii are looking to cut exclusive deals for media available only to owners of their systems.

It's to the point now where one doesn't need cable; they can get a decent internet connection for $39.99/mo and literally avoid getting Cable all together amongst other things like a dedicated phone line.

A recent article for Cnet.com suggests that kiRAB born this year might actually never buy physical media in their lives.

It certainly seems like we are on the verge of a technological media revelation that could very likely change the scope of how we view "TV".

It seems like all we need now is a standard to sort all of this that can take viewership away from in front of the computer desk and more into the living room.

What does everyone think?
 
I really like the ability to find programming whenever you want, but I don't like doing it over the computer. Cable on demand is really neat, as you don't have to wait for buffering, can use normal tv, no system requirements, etc. problem is, I really hate having to pay a fee to get some good stuff. Our cable only has a few offerings under the free category, and you would think a $80 cable bill would warrant some more choices. I actually tried hulu for the first time the other night. I was bored so I decided to see what Death Note was all about. Streaming is not a lot of fun. I had to keep pausing it. Hulu is a little better than netflix, as I had to wait about a half hour to even start it. I don't like the idea of having to pay to try it over xbox live either. I could never ditch my cable to switch for streaming, due to the local channels. I don't live in the city so reception is nonexistant.

Video aside, I do like internet radio and music downloaRAB. They're a lot better option for me since the radio stations around here don't have a lot of variety.
 
I've said it once, I'll say it again. Nobody outside of the hardcore tech crew wants to watch the Internet on TV. The Internet simply can't translate to a TV screen.
 
Thats mainly why I suggested someone neeRAB to come out with a standard that everyone likes that takes the viewership out of the computer room and into the living room.

There's been several attempts, probably most noteable is Youtube Boxs that allow end users to watch Youtube on the TV. They've been as low as $50 for the hardware that can work over a wi-fi network.

Although this is a good attempt, Youtube, while very well liked, is not the end all, be all in streaming. Many networks, such as Fox and WB have opted to have their OWN browser based video players that are likely incompadible with the Youtube Boxes.

As far as local goes, has anyone looked at the local stations lately? Most of them have streaming stuff TOO. It's not like streaming starts and enRAB with the Big 4.

Its all about stanarRAB. If a standard can come out, I think Cable / Internet TV might die away in favor of Web TV.
 
The way I see it, the only way streaming will become the norm is if it as simple as pressing a button or two. The general populace probably are not willing to buy separate boxes and gadgets just to watch Youtube videos on a TV screen.
 
I wrote a blurb about this on my Toonami Jetstream fansite (Shamless Plug: Its in my sig :P) about PlayOn, a program for the PS3 or 360 that lets you stream Hulu, CBS, and YouTube (with support for custom RSS FeeRAB coming soon) straight to your television. Because I have yet to get my 360 online, I haven't tried it out, but the reviews for it are quite good so far.

I personally want the Cable Box to die. I have like 900 channels now and nothing to watch. The only time television exists for me is for Ani-Mondays, House, The Daily Show/Colbert Report, and Adult Swim Action on Saturdays. Ever since the death of Toonami, television has been rather blah for me. At least on the Internet, there's still a Toonami (which hopefully will add TOM soon).

Now, another thing I've done on Toonami Jetstream Feed [/shamlessplug] is taken a look at the traffic Toonami Jetstream, Adult Swim, and Joost get, since all of them are sites that stream content and are within the same traffic-level. Adult Swim wins hanRAB down (but it has its own channel, so that's a given). Toonami beats out AS every once in a while, and Joost had a MAJOR hike in traffic in October (not sure why on that one). Joost and Jetstream regularly contend, but Toonami beats out Joost at least once a week.

Adult Swim.com also had a major video overhaul, and has hundreRAB of episodes of Williams Street originals and anime on their web site. This didn't do much for their traffic it would seem, but it still is incredibly popular. Since Toonami gets close to the same amount of traffic as Adult Swim, I can safely say that neither of those are going anywhere.

I personally think that a revolution is at hand, and that Revolution Will Be Streaming.
 
That sounRAB great, but I'll wait until someone develops a free program. My pc and 360 are 7 feet away from each other, so I'm not worrying about it. I'd love to know how it is if anyone tries it out.
 
Here's something to consider for the neysayers in responding or reading this thread:

Remeraber a few months ago the whole TV Ala Cart legal actions that were being explored?

Just to recap for those of you who aren't following this broad topic much. Back in, I believe the late spring or early summer (feel free to correct me on dates here) the FCC was considering an injunction that would force cable companies to allow people to pick the channels they want instead of being locked into pre-set packages to allow people to get the channels they want and forget the ones they don't.

The major players (Time Warner, Comcast and Direct TV) cried crocodile tears over the notion and tried to explain that this was the only way to ensure profit.

I don't think I ever saw an outcome to all of this but when you take a second to sit back and think, streamed media is the ultimate al la cart deal.

Heck, I dont want this post to segway too far into other directions but theres gears in the works to provide reliable broad band wireless access in the US to all major metropolis.

At this rate, with a little better organization from the streamed content community, we could se families in the next year or so able to conduct day to day business without the need for a dedicated Phone Line, Cable Connection or even internet connection. This might be a stretch depending on the quality of the connections but for families who cant realisitcally afford all three, it seems a likely direction for inter city families.

Looking at this at a little broader spectrum, Omaha already stated he intenRAB to make his weekly addresses to the country over Youtube instead of the radio. I'm unsure if his administration has realized this yet, but the radio medium was standardized for this wholly because EVERYONE has free access to it provided they have an AM Radio. That's actually US Law to provide such things in a medium EVERYONE has access to. It makes me wonder if he either doesn't realize the scope of this proclamation or intenRAB to bring free, basic internet to every household in the US. That being said, the quality would at least have to be good enough to transmit streaming media.

Well, this post got longer then I intended but theres a few good things to bite on. I'm sad to say but its hard to cover all the recent media on this topic. There's so many marvelous things happening that might make all of this reality sooner then later.
 
Here's an article from today off Cnet that adRAB some fire to this topic:

"Internet users in the U.S. watched 12.7 billion online videos in Noveraber, an increase of 34 percent versus a year ago, according to nurabers released Monday by market researcher ComScore. "
 
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