Something struck me last night when I was flicking through the channels on TV. The Gadget Show was about to start on Five (which is a great show by the way – Jason Bradbury is a legend) and the continuity guy said “now all new gadget show”. I’ve heard the words ‘all new’ used on Sky channels before when they announce shows, but never on a terrestrial channel. I’ve not regularly watched TV in ages so maybe they’re all at it now, but it got me thinking about the state of television in general. Programs are repeated so often, on different channels and on different formats, that we have to be reminded when it’s actually an episode that’s not been on before.
To be honest that particular episode of TGS was the first thing I’ve seen on ‘live’ television in some time, with the exception of Lost and the occasional football match. It seems that the majority of my television watching has switched to ‘on demand’ formats. Whether it be downloaded viewing (like the Japanese wrestling I watch), BBC iPlayer, 4OD or the Catch Up service on Virgin Media; Pretty much all my viewing is done at a time that suits myself. What I’ve recently discovered is that the web version of the BBC iPlayer works through my PlayStation 3. It’s great because I get no telly signal in my room. So I just flick on the TV and PS3 in the mornings and sit and watch the previous nights telly.
Of course there are now even more ways of watching television. You can download shows through iTunes as well as the different channels on demand services. You can get television streamed ‘live’ online as well as on your phone.
This reminded me of something mentioned by Tim Kring, creator of Heroes. Kring described the whole concept of serialised television as:
“a very flawed way of telling stories on network television right now, because of the advent of the DVR and online streaming. The engine that drove [serialized TV] was you had to be in front of the TV [when it aired]. Now you can watch it when you want, where you want, how you want to watch it, and almost all of those ways are superior to watching it on air. So [watching it] on air is related to the saps and the dips**s who can’t figure out how to watch it in a superior way.”
Now while the guy got in trouble for calling his viewers dips**s (and let’s be honest, that wasn’t the smartest move in media history) he does have a valid point about the vast array of ways to watch the show. Heroes is the most downloaded television show in history, most of those downloads illegal ones.
There are always shows that will continue to get big ratings on broadcast television, but there are increasing amounts of television (usually ‘cult’ shows) that are downloaded or watched online. Things like 24, Lost, Heroes, Fringe… and these are just the ones that I personally watch online. Will more television companies make more content available online to counter illegal downloads? With the inception of websites like Hulu, shows on iTunes and full shows and films available online through Amazon… It looks as if we can expect more and more content to be delivered away from broadcast television.