This question has filled my head on many occasions over the last two years, and I’ve been meaning to get it somewhere online as a genuine view point, but haven’t had the right amount of time nor the right place to put it. However, now seems like a good time and place to mention these views I have.
The medium of entertainment since 1936, television is the number one communicator for media in the entire world, broadcasting countless hours of wasteful content like X-Factor The Only Way Is Essex into the living rooms of seemingly brain-dead viewers all across the UK and now, the world. Television really has made an impact on how we digest media, however, there’s something new coming out of the shadows.
The internet. Now the internet has been around for a while, and we all know what it is, unless you live in North Korea, in which instance, I pity you… However, I digress, the internet is the fountain of knowledge! Google and Wikipedia have now become the norm to find all ‘reliable’ forms of information and history for anyone doing a University dissertation, and with websites like You Are A Pirate and Nyan Cat, it makes you wonder why so many people in the world are loosing levels of IQ with these brilliant sources of information.
But, what does this mean for the state of Television? Well, let me explain…Everything is becoming wireless and digital, the film industry knows this better than anyone, with the move from film to digital, we have first hand experience with change, and, none of us like it (well some of us). With this digital revolution, there has been a slight dip in how media works, look at websites such as Netflix or Love Film, no longer do you need a TV licence to watch your favourite television shows, a subscription from Netflix in the UK is £6.99 a month (at the time of writing this blog), which equals to about £84, a whole lot cheaper than a TV license.
Then you have YouTube, where you can get constant forms of entertainment in any genre you want, and it’s free (as long as you’re not paying for the internet service, then you’re good!). This doesn’t just restrict itself to television, oh no, the retail industry has also had an interesting turn. Look at HMV, remember how that turned out for them? With services online like Spotify and iTunes, no one needs physical CDs or DVDs anymore if they can get it from the comfort of their own home.
In my opinion (keep note of that word, opinion), Television will slowly die out, eventually, not any time soon, but it will, even now it’s trying it’s best to keep up to date with the times, with some televisions being able to connect to the internet and stream live from YouTube, which, in my opinion, is like shooting yourself in the foot. Everything will be digital and online in the next 50 years if it’s going the way it’s going.
So, what do you think? Has the internet really killed television?
Leave your comments below!
