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TV and Radio and the web

by Rob Paterson

December 31, 2009 at 9:35 am · Filed under Apple, Hulu.com, PBS, Public TV, Video, YouTube

I have cancelled my cable and have been connecting directly to the web for 2 months now. I am not alone.

tv-internet-chart

I am nearly 60 – I am in the slowest group to do this and look at what is going on with the old farts! For the young, the choice has been made.

Why do I use the web?

What I see is in my control
There is loads of what I want on the web – mainly documentaries and music
The pathways there – iTunes, Veoh, YouTube are good enough and getting better. In the US even more choice.
The better content producers are going there – PBS is a long way along
No Ads!!!!!!!!!!
No paying for stuff I dont want
I would pay for a better experience too

I use a simple mini connector on my MacBook to link to my TV set and use the screen management feature to synch the screens. In 2010 even these simple technical hurdles will go away. A better Apple TV? The new iSlate?

The point is for all who are in TV – the web will be THE channel by 2011.

PS – Radio is going web too (New York Times)

FM tuners are passé. Why include tuner technology to play a few dozen stations when you can harness thousands of radio stations over the Internet?

Unlike standard broadcast radio, Internet radio stations can be heard virtually anywhere (copyright restrictions aside), as long as you have a device that can go on the Web; that can be a PC, a smartphone or a stand-alone receiver.

An Internet radio station may have started out life as a traditional local broadcast outlet, and then management decided that it would be great to let people hear it everywhere. Or an Internet radio station may be nothing more than one person in a basement uploading music or talk to the Web, hoping that someone out there will listen.

Literally thousands of genres of Internet radio exist, from oldies, classical and religious to ultraradical talk, from the right and left. The first trick is finding them, and the next is playing them. Fortunately, with a little information, both tasks are rather easy.

TUNE IN To find an Internet station of a particular genre, start with the basics: a Web search. Type in “60s,” “NPR” or “Catholic” and the words “Internet radio” and you’ll come up with a list and links to those channels.

Another useful source is streamingradioguide.com. The Web site lists more than 14,000 stations that can be searched by genre. While extensive, the list is not complete.

Internet radio hardware and smartphone apps that offer radio transmissions don’t typically accumulate station offerings themselves; rather, they use aggregators, companies that create a selection of channels. On the Web, you can access radio channels directly from those aggregators as well; they include Reciva.com,Radiotime.com, Vtuner.com, 1.fm and Freeradio.tv.

In addition, Apple’s iTunes software (Mac and PC) offers hundreds of Internet radio stations.

So this is the reality – 2010 will be the Tipping Point when Radio and TV move to the web.

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19 Comments »

Coach Steve TothJanuary 1st, 2010 at 4:22 pm

Your article is very refreshing and I hope the baby boomer generation gets with the program very soon. I have found by running an Internet Radio Network for over three years now that most baby boomers can’t deal with the Internets intuitive technologies without some hand holding.

Steven RamirezJanuary 1st, 2010 at 8:13 pm

I have also been experimenting with an Internet-only TV experience for two months. It’s interesting that you don’t say what prompted to you to try this—your high cable bill, aversion watching commercials. In my case, it was a simple question of finances.

Though I agree with you that we are all headed here at some point, in my opinion the pieces necessary to make this a pleasurable experience are just not all there yet.

I started with an Internet connection and my laptop. At first I watched programs using Windows Media Center, Hulu and to a lesser extent YouTube. The main issue for me was easily finding shows I wanted to watch. Then I discovered Clicker.

With Clicker, things got a little better but I was still limited in terms of feature films (I just don’t watch that much television). So I signed up for Netflix. For a little under ten dollars a month, I streamed movies using my laptop. The down side? A fairly limited catalog and no HD.

Next stop: Xbox. I actually bought this as a gift to my family. I quickly realized that in order to make the most of it, I needed to purchase an Xbox Live Gold membership. Another fifty dollars for one year. Happily I can now stream HD content courtesy of Netflix.

As I write this, I’ve just purchased a thirty-dollar digital antenna for my flat screen TV. Finally I can just flip on the set and watch TV—great for catching the news at dinner time.

I am planning to investigate Boxee at some point. But I am quickly learning that in order to save on a monthly cable bill, I will most likely have to spend a considerable amount of money. At least that’s what I’ve found so far.

Stuart HenshallJanuary 4th, 2010 at 9:35 pm

Rob,
Much the same thing exists in our household although I;m still paying for the cable for my daughter mostly. When she goes the cable TV goes. Comcast has effectively destroyed my Tivo by going all digital. I won’t buy another Tivo. I hacked my AppleTv with Boxee and am enjoying HULU that way. I’ve use Proxies to gain access to the BBC and iPlayer. I’d happily pay the UK license fee (as an expat) to gain unlimited access and particularly easier access to TopGear. Radio etc… well yes but I really seldom listen anymore. Pandora or those playlists seem to get in the way.

I think some of the tradeoffs are overlooked. Eg I pay more and more for unlimted mobile data access. I’d cut comcast cable in a second if I had TV on the mobile and could also watch it on any TV just like the mac example you use. Like some others point out there are a number of ways to make it better and save money on it. When you pay 50 a month or more for CableTV it doesn’t stack up very well re available time. Prepaid TV is coming for certain. IT is partially here already with Netflix etc.

Robert PatersonJanuary 5th, 2010 at 7:18 am

Hi Stuart!
In Canada we have even fewer options and it requires more of a struggle but was this not where we all were with music?

iTunes is getting better – more choice – for the technically challenged such as me, they are onto something. Maybe with the iSlate, iTunes will push even harder.

Easy will win – but TV as we know it is on its death bed