What else is on?

I’ve been without a television for the better part of a month now. I can’t remember how long exactly as the first few days were a blur. It got water logged (don’t ask) and I decided not to spend money fixing it or buying a new one as there are plans afoot that would prevent me from realizing a return on my investment.

Being without television, which has been a steady companion my entire life, has been difficult to say the least. It has however forced me to seek out other methods of entertainment and expand my thus far limited horizon in terms media consumption.

Top of the list is of course Internet media. I’m a long time YouTuber (and a fan of many non-social streaming services before it) and have always been pleased with what it provides. A reactive source of moving pictures. Reactive in the sense that I have to tell it what i want, unlike a television that pushes content at me in a more proactive way. Sure I can view what others are viewing, see related media and some services will even give recommendations based on what I’ve watched in the past, all great stuff, but it’s not what I’ve gotten used to from years spent in front of the idiot box.

I’m not inclined to say that one paradigm is superior to the other, I will simply say that I’ve grown accustomed to one thing and while I can appreciate this new way of doing things,  it hasn’t managed to completely sway me into changing the way I expect to get my media.

Online media providers have failed to appease this crucial aspect of television watching habits. Sometimes people just want to get lost in what’s coming at them. Empowering me to control all aspects of what I absorb doesn’t really help me when I’m just in the frame of mind to watch whatever is on. In the same breath, people are varied in what they may choose to watch. My recommendations can’t be based solely on what I’ve watched and/or what my peers are watching. In the old way of doing things many times discoveries are stumbled upon from simple channel surfing, not complex algorithms. People need to have a choice and media companies need to not assume that new automatically equates to improved. At times it may simply be different.

P.S.

Television studios need to completely embrace the Internet as an avenue to distribute their content. I wanted to watch the Grammys tonight but there were no live streaming sources to be found. The technology is there and so are successful revenue models, so what’s the holdup?