Five Possible Futures for How We Watch Television

Television is in a state of flux. Everyone watches, but they also complain about the cost. Some people are surprised that their parents still have cable, while the parents are surprised that the grandparents only watch broadcast TV. And your friend wonders why you pay for a subscription while they just pirate the shows they want. What will people do to watch TV ten or twenty years from now? Paul Tassi lays out several scenarios at TVOM, with their advantages, drawbacks, and odds of becoming the standard for the future of television as we know it.

(Image credit: Zaphod)


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We stopped having cable or broadcast TV before the kids were born. Their experience of TV is very different from mine growing up. There's no waiting a week for the next episode. New ones either exist or they don't.

There are two features that I really like about this lack of formal TV. We can control what they watch carefully. I remember a few weeks ago we were sitting in a hotel lobby which had a TV. It was on Good Morning America or some equivalent. And the show brought up a sexual topic. It wouldn't have shocked me before I had kids, but it really took me by surprise at the time. I can cut out all of that content easily.

They also have almost no experience with commercials. When they visit their grandparents and watch broadcast TV, they're mesmerized by commercials and suddenly want a bunch of toys they were previously unaware of.
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