Friday, January 21, 2005

Asynchronous TV

TV will change.

The technologies existing today will have an impact on TV. P2P and RSS will make it possible to watch any TV show at any time anywhere in the world.

The TV stations will fight it. The copyright holders will fight. It will be bloody. But you can't stop change. They will slow it down, but they won't stop it.

What's already possible today (record and distribute a TV show to friends) will be much easier and more widespread. And one day TV stations will start to offer TV shows via RSS. Asynchronous TV. You come home and watch your favorite show. Or watch it the next day. You are no longer a slave to synchronous TV.

But the business model will have to change. How can you make money with advertisments, if people can simply skip it? How can you charge for a TV show, if anybody can distribute it? You can try your luck with Digital Rights Managment, but DRM does not work. You can fight it with the law, but why fight your consumers?

TV will change. It will change, because the technology will force it to change. But how, only the future will tell.

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