Traditional media verses the Internet

As the popularity of the Internet grows, cable monopolies keep profiting off their customers (taking advantage of being a limited numbers of cable providers). Concurrently, more entertainment viewing options become available on line, one's home entertainment options will be through the computer. The combination of the growing costs of cable service and what is accessable through the Internet, the tipping point between tapping into ones computer instead of having the services provided by ones cable service to "watch TV" isn't far off and the computer chances of winning look very good. This is one of those moments, not a clearly defined one like in 1995 when Microsoft came out with windows, along with AOL boom, changed the world with the Internet for the masses but in a subtler way; many households will be upgrading their flat screens and television sets like this couple in a recent NYT article.

The bottom line is this, access to being cable free is as simple as having a computer. Although the equipment cost around $700 and a monthly cost of the Internet connection, with software upgrades and a wireless keyboard and mouse, can replace cable service. This beats adding to the coffers of Cox, Time Warner and Comcast rackets. How it is explained in the article is that this couples comes home from work and watch any number any number of shows, just like the people who continue to pay for cable. We just do it a little differently starting the computer and then using services like Hulu, Boxee, iTunes and Joost. Another interesting twist to this experience is that we're no longer limited to consuming traditional programming.
It revolves around this little device called a Mac Mini, it is a computer without a monitor that you hook up to your TV. It hasn't really caught on in its present form and when people start canceling their cable services it may not be the Mac Mini that they replace it with but it certainly be something very much like it. Two of the three major next works, ABC and NBC both use Hulu and their own websites to broadcast their shows on the internet.

Another appeal to having your TV and your Internet as two devices which work together for entertainment is the opportunities and availability of watching movies and pay per view sports. One doesn't even need to get rid of their cable service but can use their cable service to enhance their entertainment options. I have no idea how to find movies presently playing in theaters on line but I know that it can be done.
Today is Sunday and I can go to the internet and watch any football game in the NFL. Although I live in New England, I am a Minnesota Vikings fan and I watch almost all of their games. Last night I watched Penn verses Sanchez on line for free. I love UFC fighting and Dana White, its promoter, is a huge reason for its success. The idea of paying to see the event (which BJ Penn won having put a huge gash in the face of Diego Sanchez) and money into that jerk Dana White's pocket isn't something that I want to do.

UPDATE January 17, 2010

3:36 p.m. Touchdown, Minnesota. Goodnight, Dallas. For the third time this afternoon, it’s Favre finding Rice for six. He hit Rice for 47 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown in the first quarter; in the fourth, it’s Rice for 45 yards down the left side. The extra point gives the Vikings an insurmountable 27-3 lead. This throw may have been better than the first: a high, arcing pass that dropped right into Rice’s lap ahead of a diving defensive back. Without a defender in sight, Rice walked into the end zone from 10 yards out. As Romo struggles, Favre has been terrific.

Warning: These site to watch the "free" pay per view sports, NFL football, etc, often get shut down and you have to toggle back and fourth between sites. This technolgy is in its infancy though and someday the cable companies maybe at the mercy of those who refuse to pay.
Thanks to these websites http://atdhe.net/index.html and http://www.p2p4u.net/, I have been able to catch the moument written sports section of the NYT. These website broadcasts sports and other items free! This is the future of TV!! I know that the money grubbing NFL would like to catch the people responsible for these illegal rebroadcasts and boil them in oil but the internet is the gennie out of the bottle.

My cat Tarzan and I watching the last minutes of the game on my computer in my living room!

Vikings quarterback Brett Favre after throwing a touchdown in the second half.

This Roku devise uses wifi and you plug it into you TV like a DVD or video player and you can get Netflex movies. It costs between 80.00 to 120.00 and as little as less than $10.00 a month for the Nexflex account. By next year at this time, this whole hybred of the computer and your television could really take off and define the future of TV. This technology is a couple of years old, 2008, so who knows what is being developed now and how much easier this will get.

The internet is proving to dominate the media, from Newspapers to traditional network and cable television, as you can see from this Pew Research Center did on this State of the Media study. 

http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/online_summary_essay.php

http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/network_tv_summary_essay.php

http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/newspapers_summary_essay.php

This is an article from Yahoo.com saying that although less than 1% of the 100 million people hooked on cable are defecting, more are leaving and it is a trend that will most likley increase.

TechCrunch has the scoop on a new report from the Toronto-based Convergence Consulting Group, and though the figures may not be a "serious threat" to the big cable and satellite carriers yet, the trend might eventually spell trouble for the like of Cablevision, Comcast, DirecTV, and Time Warner Cable.
To wit: Nearly 800,000 households in the U.S. have "cut the cord," dumping their cable, satellite, or telco TV providers (such as AT&T U-verse or Verizon FiOS) and turning instead to Web-based videos (like Hulu), downloadable shows (iTunes), by-mail subscription services (Netflix), or even good ol' over-the-air antennas for their favorite shows, according to the report.
Now, as TechCrunch points out, the estimated 800,000 cord cutters represent less than 1 percent of the 100 million U.S. households (give or take) currently subscribing to a cable/satellite/telco TV carrier, so it's not like we're talking a mass exodus here. But by the end of 2011, the report guesstimates, the number of cord-cutting households in the U.S. will double to about 1.6 million.