At yesterday’s Lineup HERE we were chatting about Hulu’s move to corner the television re-run market and distribute the programming over the internet, bypassing the cable and satellite tv providers entirely. Reportedly, when this expanded service begins sometime this summer, the modest fee of $10 per month for ad-free programs will certainly be inviting. Especially when they expand the content offered to include current episodes of series programming and immediate release of specials, documentaries and made-for-tv movies.
But once they get a customer base committed and “hooked” on the service, will it remain low priced? Will it remain ad-free? Only in your dreams. Hulu is banking on being the sole source of this internet programming and will no doubt seek to capitalize on it by eventually selling commercial time, probably beginning with pre-program commercials and then subtly inserting some into pauses created in the shows. This in turn will lead competitors to spring up and offer their downloads to you smartphone or laptop. In order to have programs to offer, they will contract writers and producers to generate new shows and we will see a repeat cycle of what the cable tv industry went through.
Cable television started out in the late 1960′s solely to relay regular tv signals to remote, rural areas that could not pull in tv signals. Then they started bundling out-of-town stations along with movie channels like HBO and Showtime, and selling them to city-dwellers. This in turn led to the creation of cable-only networks and you know the rest of the story.
So what’s going to happen with this broadband telecasting movement? While the history of the cable industry can be a guideline, we can’t say that it will be duplicated because there is a cultural shift going on with regards to information distribution. No longer will the family (or the crew at the firehouse) gather around the tv to share a program together. We all have our own personal receiver now… in the form of the smartphone. Just go to anyplace at all where there is a public assembly, such as a bus or subway car, or the concourse of a shopping mall. Or even a restaurant. You will see a high percentage of people not watching where they are going, or paying attention to their surroundings while they wait for their food to be brought to them. They are looking down… where their hand is holding their smartphone …. and reading, watching, or sending a visual signal.
Seventy years ago, crowds would gather in the street
to listen to loudspeakers playing World Series game broadcasts.
We already have the capability to watch YouTube on the phones, so it’s easy to assign everybody on the shift to watch a specific training video before having a session with everybody to drill with the subject matter. Before you know it, there will be a specific video network for firefighters and EMS personnel to receive training and news updates over their smartphones. Presto! They are here already. The International Association of Fire Chiefs has been doing this for two years now. And the Chronicles of EMS are putting their package together now. I’d better start getting more familiar with how to use my Droid now.
First, we’d better get this equipment checked out. I’ll go see how the Sunday breakfast is coming and then start some more coffee. See you back in the day room.
Sunday Photo Art
Also on FireGeezer…
- Morning Lineup – November 18 – November 18, 2010
- Morning Lineup – September 16 – September 16, 2011
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