In the most recent years, the (official) availability of tv shows have grown on the internet. Well d’uh!
Recently, South Park Studios started offering every single on of the series episodes for free viewing. Hulu.com is still growing and could end up becoming the YouTube for tv shows and movies. Once again, free!
Unlike the original televised broadcasts, you can watch these at anytime, with less advertisements, and unlike owning them on dvd or blu ray (yes, I support it and own a PS3), they are free. Notice how the word “free” keeps popping up.
I personally will watch the episodes on the net off their official rescources, and then, if I like the series, I purchase the season when it’s made available on DVD/BR. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my hard copies over the digital ones.
But there are lots of people out there that if they can get it free on the net, officially or illegally, they will. And I’m sure not everybody goes out and buys the season dvds. That can be quite an expensive endeavor after a while, especially with long running series. I mean, why buy all the South Park dvds when you watch it free of their website?
Of course, I own every one of those dvds. But I’m sure the above could be a popular mentallity.
Little by little, networks will follow in South Park Studios footsteps and offer their entire collection for free. A lot of network websites offer newer episodes, but not whole series, nor older ones.
I’m personally not against this either. Why would I be? I have been saying for years that all television should be available on on-demand services.
People have busy schedules and often are prone to miss many shows they want to watch. Of course, there’s always TiVo, but not everybody is willing to buy that, and besides, most people have computers with internet capabilities, and with the availability of shows online, your favorite shows oculd be just a click away.
What affect will this have on television? Will the grwoing technology run it over? I doubt it. TV will most likely adapt with the changes, something I’m going to address in a future article.
As far as seasons on DVD go, I doubt they’ll be shorted out anytime soon. A lot of shows aren’t being offered on the net yet, like older shows, but eventually the medium will change and the internet will be a doorway for television viewing, if it isn’t already.
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Interestingly, the CRTC here in Canada is looking to expand the availability of new channels (mainly overseas) to help keep people watching television, as opposed to spending more time on the computer. I only bring this up because Ted Rogers wants to limit who/what is broadcast, and wants to charge for it. This is in stark comparison to what a person can view for free on the net, namely episodes of their favourite shows. I wish to hell more companies would realize the potential that the internet provides, not only in allowing and improving ways to market to their existing viewers, but to use as a launching pad for new shows and to create a larger than imaginable audience to cater to. The “Hollywood” execs are falling by the way side in their constant late arrivals to the tech game, and could find themselves left out or behind the 8-ball if they don’t find a fix soon.
BTW, Josh, I’m a lot like you. When there’s a program I enjoy, I buy the season. The problem I have though, is I don’t watch a lot of TV and end up missing many of my favourite shows (I missed almost all of Heroes season 2, among others) and have no way to watch them unless I’ve set my DVD recorder. The problem is, I may not want to buy the box set if I didn’t like the program, but I definitely won’t buy the box set if I haven’t even seen it.