Are television channels and radio obsolete?

[Tahuti]

Why would you need to watch TV channels or listen to radio channels if you can read the news on computers and smart-phones, watch movies on computers and smart-phones, listen to music on computers and smart-phones and watch "TV programs" on computers and smart-phones?

What's the point of keeping them if there is nothing computers can't do what these can?

 

[Kyriakos]

In fact they do it differently, since with computers literally anyone can hope to come across to the larger public, without needing to be part of a clique. At least in some fields, such as music and movie-making (as shown on youtube, both positive and negative examples). Computer-communication is a powerful tool which can help our advancement, although the anti-piracy laws may evolve into something very threatening.

 

[Tahuti]

Computer-communication is a powerful tool which can help our advancement, although the anti-piracy laws may evolve into something very threatening.

I've little concern for laws like SOPA anyway, since I sincerely doubt the US will be able to enforce them as they are supposed to. I've yet to see IsoHunt go dark. But even if these laws would be enforced, the internet offers much more freedom than pre-programmed TV channels ever would.

 

[kramerfan86]

People really arent thinking when they say this. Yes you can watch all the TV shows online... but the TV shows STILL come from TV. Without the studio and advertiser money where exactly do you think the TV shows are going to pop up from?

 

[Kyriakos]

ACTA has been signed though by many countries, including (iirc) the Netherlands, and definitely including Greece :/

 

[Tahuti]

People really arent thinking when they say this. Yes you can watch all the TV shows online... but the TV shows STILL come from TV. Without the studio and advertiser money where exactly do you think the TV shows are going to pop up from?

You already have such things as internet drama's. And internet advertising is a pretty potent source of income too.

ACTA has been signed though by many countries, including (iirc) the Netherlands, and definitely including Greece :/

I know. But like I said, these are probably impossible to enforce as these are supposed to.

 

[Kyriakos]

People really arent thinking when they say this. Yes you can watch all the TV shows online... but the TV shows STILL come from TV. Without the studio and advertiser money where exactly do you think the TV shows are going to pop up from?

I see no reason why there cannot form a similar industry-based service chain in the web, without the need for physical companies outside it. It is already happening with advertising online on the major places (yahoo, facebook etc). If they can get a sustainable income then they do not need to be mere reproducers of shows anymore, they can actively create the shows themselves.

Of course tv won't die out easily; even radio is still alive. But i can see it being a bit less mainstream in the future.

 

[kramerfan86]

You already have such things as internet drama's. And internet advertising is a pretty potent source of income too.

None of which are anywhere near the quality of television productions. In order to match TV quality internet companies will have to spend more, in order to spend more they will need more advertising and fees, and if their fees and advertising start rising they quickly lose their primary advantage over TV in the first place. The only thing that allows the internet services to be cheap is TV's existence.

 

[civver_764]

I haven't really listened to the radio in about 4 or so years. The internet/mp3 players are going to make it pretty much obsolete soon. TV is still strong, but it probably has the same fate as the radio.

Well to be accurate, they aren't going to be obsolete, just integrated into the internet.

 

[wilycoyote]

Personally, I much prefer watching movies, TV on a TV screen. I like flipping through channels. I like having my computer otherwise free so that I can go online while watching TV. I like not having to wait for buffering times. Much of it is psychological, but I would wait a month to watch something on TV before I would watch it on my computer.

I listen to NPR every morning on my phone. So, in that way, radio may be obsolete for me, with it instead being transmitted online.

 

[Kyriakos]

Another thing to note is that, unlike tv, the internet is by definition chaotic and multi-faceted. You could never have thousands of different artists on show on tv in one period of time, whereas on youtube you can pretty much find anything nowdays, from the latest tv show, to full movies, to experimental movie-making and music, to amateur musicians etc. Surely this is a better approach to creativity, and it is the internet's inherent anonymity that makes it possible.

 

[Tahuti]

Personally, I much prefer watching movies, TV on a TV screen. I like flipping through channels. I like having my computer otherwise free so that I can go online while watching TV. I like not having to wait for buffering times. Much of it is psychological, but I would wait a month to watch something on TV before I would watch it on my computer.

What is to stop you from plugging a TV-sized screen to a computer?

 

[bhsup]

No, they are not obsolete. I cannot stand watching television on a computer. A computer is a computer, a TV is a TV. Don't frelling converge my technology, dammit. You should watch TV from the comfort of a couch kicking back with your doggie at your side.

And as for radio, yeah, I really wanna have to lug my stupid computer out to the garage whenever I am doing something just so I can listen to Shania singing about feeling like a woman.

 

[wilycoyote]

What is to stop you from plugging a TV-sized screen to a computer?

The other reasons I gave (I want my computer free while watching TV, I want an interface that makes flipping through channels easy, etc.).

 

[Zelig]

No, they are not obsolete. I cannot stand watching television on a computer. A computer is a computer, a TV is a TV. Don't frelling converge my technology, dammit. You should watch TV from the comfort of a couch kicking back with your doggie at your side.

And as for radio, yeah, I really wanna have to lug my stupid computer out to the garage whenever I am doing something just so I can listen to Shania singing about feeling like a woman.

You just wait, soon I'll have my toilet, oven and lawnmower all integrated into a single device.

 

[bhsup]

Actually, I could dig a lazyboy/toilet/minifridge combo!

 

[Disgustipated]

It won't happen until computers are as easy to use as a radio or tv.

 

[civver_764]

I know how to use my computer better than my TV, and I defintely know how to use internet-ready handheld devices better than my TV. Those aren't being taken into acount enough here. The internet doesn't just mean using it through a desktop computer anymore, it's become increasingly mobile.

 

[bhsup]

Mobile.... Who wants to watch TV on a mobile device? I wanna watch it on a big honkin' TV on my wall. Also, TVs are now that difficult to learn how to use. Power, channel up, channel down, volume up, volume down...

 

[Save_Ferris]

TV? With 2560 X 1440 and Netflix, who needs a TV?