Online Video Begins To Threatens Television

eldavojohn writes, "The BBC has an article reporting that a survey of 2,070 Britons revealed that online viewing is on the rise against television. From the article: 'Some 43% of Britons who watch video from the internet or on a mobile device at least once a week said they watched less normal TV as a result.' The figures the BBC is reporting are up from last year when they ran the same survey. It seems the digital world has disintermediated Magazines, Music, & Newspapers but somehow never really tapped books. Will the internet also take on the role as the family television?"

Re:It's obvious

[Mad Dog Manley]

The smart tv networks are joining the rush to online video, e.g. CBS. Their television shows are receiving some of the highest views on Youtube. (3 of the 25 highest viewed clips last week were from CBS shows)

Also good to note is the National Hockey League - they offer full hockey games on Google Video 48 hours after they are aired, and allow video clips on Youtube 24 hours after the games are aired. They are the only major North American sports league to do so.

Message to content producers and distributers - get with the program, or be left in the cold!

Re:Isolation on the rise too

[Mad Dog Manley]

For many watching online is more of a shared experience.

Not only is it shared because of online forums, chatrooms, etc, but how many times have a friend or relative sent you a video clip from Youtube or some other site, something funny or interesting or a good TV show that interested both of you? The comments and thoughts and shared experience is real - albeit a very 21st century experience - and will probably only grow in the future, as video allows more thoughts to be expressed without words.

Re:Isolation on the rise too

[timeOday]

Until they start making it easy for Joe Average to pipe Internet based content to the big LCD or Plasma they're been fighting for on black friday for Xmas...I don't see internet streamed content displacing regular, cable or satellite tv.

Coming Soon via Your TiVo: Internet Video on Television [nytimes.com]. And you can bet the Internet/Cable TV companies like Comcast won't be far behind.

Re:Isolation on the rise too

[Plutonite]

How many families really sit down and watch programs togetherand when they do, how many actually communicate during them

As a fellow geek I would love to join this parade, but you are wrong. Families do get together over T.V, even if it's just for the news or the odd movie. Television is a culture, to the extent that some people cannot initiate conversation without having something flashing on the tube. The online streaming thing is an entirely different world: you are connected to many people who may share your interests but who you interact with through playback controls. They are not real. I mean of course they are, but they are real only in the microcosm of existence that is your online experience.

If you do not have a family, there can be little difference (most of my comp.sci mates watch their shows from their PC/laptop) but if you are in a household where everybody is shut off in their room staring into their monitors and the static buzzing from their headphones, then you know something is not right.

Sometimes it's good to fight over the channels. And remember, this is coming from a Computer Science grad student, not your aunt.

Re:Isolation on the rise too

[LunaticTippy]

I bought a low-end 3d graphics card for $40 just for the TV-out ability. I figured not wasting time and dvd blanks would pay for itself in a matter of weeks.

Oddly, I'm running 50' of coax and using the plain ol' composite video signal and it looks good!

Not every PC has built-in tv-readable outputs you know.