I've been without cable TV service since April of 2010. No DirecTV, No Dish, No Comcast, No nothing.
But I'm watching more television shows and movies than ever before. With Netflix and Hulu Plus.
With Netflix, $8.99 per month, I'm watching TV shows like The Office, Californication, Lie to Me, 30 Rock, Weeds, American Pickers, Family Guy and others. From the first episode of the season to the last. On my schedule.
I also just picked up a subscription to Hulu Plus, an additional $7.99 per month.
Netflix offers a much larger library and has nearly every title that Hulu Plus carries, but Hulu Plus lets me watch current seasons of shows like Glee, Saturday Night Live, The Soup, The Office, 30 Rock, House, Family Guy and Lie to Me. Again, these are just the shows I'm watching.
With Netflix and Hulu Plus I'm watching more shows and movies than ever before. It's more productive TV viewing. Instead of surfing channels, I pick exactly what I want to watch on my schedule.
All of this makes me wonder. What is "TV"? Is it a service? Or is it the product, the show, the movie or even the network? Is today's "TV" the distribution vehicle or the product delivered?
I believe TV should be viewed as the product. But right now we're paying for the distribution vehicle: the provider. Like Comcast, DirecTV, Dish, Windstream, etc.
There's a shift occurring. TV is changing from the provider to the product.
The DirecTV vs. Dish battle has increased in intensity within the last few years. In the next five to 10 years it will become far less important which vehicle we use to get our content. Because these new services are taking advantage of what consumers already have: HD TVs, Internet-connected sets and high-speed wireless internet.
New services and boxes are popping up every week. Hulu Plus, Google TV, Boxee Box, Orb TV and more. And the pricing is starting as low as $7.99 per month. That's a win for consumers.
What we're witnessing is not the end of TV but its future. And I'm happy to be an early adopter.
But I'm watching more television shows and movies than ever before. With Netflix and Hulu Plus.
With Netflix, $8.99 per month, I'm watching TV shows like The Office, Californication, Lie to Me, 30 Rock, Weeds, American Pickers, Family Guy and others. From the first episode of the season to the last. On my schedule.
I also just picked up a subscription to Hulu Plus, an additional $7.99 per month.
Netflix offers a much larger library and has nearly every title that Hulu Plus carries, but Hulu Plus lets me watch current seasons of shows like Glee, Saturday Night Live, The Soup, The Office, 30 Rock, House, Family Guy and Lie to Me. Again, these are just the shows I'm watching.
With Netflix and Hulu Plus I'm watching more shows and movies than ever before. It's more productive TV viewing. Instead of surfing channels, I pick exactly what I want to watch on my schedule.
All of this makes me wonder. What is "TV"? Is it a service? Or is it the product, the show, the movie or even the network? Is today's "TV" the distribution vehicle or the product delivered?
I believe TV should be viewed as the product. But right now we're paying for the distribution vehicle: the provider. Like Comcast, DirecTV, Dish, Windstream, etc.
There's a shift occurring. TV is changing from the provider to the product.
The DirecTV vs. Dish battle has increased in intensity within the last few years. In the next five to 10 years it will become far less important which vehicle we use to get our content. Because these new services are taking advantage of what consumers already have: HD TVs, Internet-connected sets and high-speed wireless internet.
New services and boxes are popping up every week. Hulu Plus, Google TV, Boxee Box, Orb TV and more. And the pricing is starting as low as $7.99 per month. That's a win for consumers.
What we're witnessing is not the end of TV but its future. And I'm happy to be an early adopter.
