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Where is the free online TV market going? Will it be free for long?

With bandwidth and internet speeds increasing daily, many people are forgoing that trip to the movie theater or even that trip to the living room, to watch television in the comfort of their computer chair. There are many great things about being able to watch television from your computer and in this article we will break down the positive and negative aspects of free television online as well as some of the major players in this new online television market. It is safe to say that television online is going to be around for a long time and there is no way to stop it so the major television networks will have to learn how to harness and regulate this new access to media.

Like the struggling music industry, the free tv online industry has run into some hurdles in the 00s in large part due to the internet. But while the music industry is struggling with sales the television market has never been better. Television viewership is at the highest it has ever been, in no small part due to the quality of programming in the new millennium. One could say that the internet, along with programs like Netflix and Blockbuster which deliver TV shows on DVD to people’s doorsteps, have helped the television industry in forcing them to put out a more quality product. If people can watch the show for free online without commercials or on DVD without advertising, they often will. The trick for the television industry is in how to keep viewers watching live TV. Shows like Lost, The Sopranos and The Office intentionally hook the viewer so that they become “must-watch” shows. Sure, that same viewer will probably buy the show when it comes out on DVD but they will also make an effort to sit down in front of their TV to see it as it airs so they can talk around the water cooler the next morning about the important plot points and changes.

For those who don’t care about catching a show as it airs, the internet can not only save them money, but it can save them time. In the past you would have to organize your life around the airing of your favorite television show but today many people go about their daily lives without regarding the time their favorite show is going to be on TV because they can always go online the next day and watch it at the time that works best for them. NBC.com was an early leader in this market, often promising viewers they could watch, or rewatch, their favorite NBC show just hours after it aired. What NBC did that changed the game, though, was they added commercials online. And it seemed to work. NBC did a good job of rooting out other online sites broadcasting full NBC content to drive viewers to their site so they would have to watch the show with limited online commercials.

Beyond NBC.com, there are still a number of free TV online sties popping up every day. For those looking for a quick fix of television that do not care about the video or sound quality, this is a viable option, the legality of it notwithstanding. What the TV networks are banking on is that people will quality audio and visual content so they will forgo the cheap online TV sites and migrate to their official sites. Many networks are also offering exclusive online content like bonus scenes and blooper reels to draw viewers into their free online television shows. Hulu, another giant in the online TV ring was for a long time one of the most popular sites for watching television online. It still is but the networks finally caught on to the site and have begun implementing commercials, banners and even taking down content they won’t want offered for free online. High quality television online is still in a very early phase and it will be interesting to see where it goes. To use the music industry as an example, in the early days of file sharing, everything was free without consequence. The record labels then begun cracking down, scaring file sharers with fines and jail time and it largely worked. Teens growing up with iTunes today don’t want to go through the risk or work to illegally download when that favorite song of theirs is just a few clicks and a dollar away. Maybe one day the online TV industry will be the same way; they will slowly integrate paid services to watch their programs and in ten years people won’t even remember a time when it was free.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 07:44 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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