- The Future is Now
While we still await the opening of the local flying car dealership and all our food isn?t in pill form yet, the progression of technology is moving far faster than the Popular Mechanic futurists of the ?50?s ever imagined.
Perhaps nothing indicates this more than sports ? and how it is now consumed. Back in those days when anything was possible, there was one game of the week on national TV ? it was baseball. Sometimes local TV picked up the fringe sports like football or even more rarely basketball, but essentially all you had was a one-sport universe once-a-week and it was in black and white.
On-demand meant, getting up and actually going to a ball game and sitting in the stands.
Only Luddites do that anymore.
Today we have virtually unlimited access to any sport we chose to follow. In our digital universe, at any given time it would be more difficult to find a matchup that you couldn?t watch than the hundred or so that you could.
Cable revolutionized the sports world in the ?90?s. Few understood the impact it would have back then seeing the concept of a 24/7 sports station as something unsustainable.
Now we couldn?t imagine life without them ? and yet they are in so many ways already obsolete.
It all comes down to this: Why do we ever have to watch something somebody else has decided we should watch?
Just a few years ago, that was the rule of the game. The most important figure in any sports cable organization was the programming director upon whose shoulders lay the responsibility of negotiating for the rights to specific programming and essentially deciding what gets broadcast.
Now that last part of their job is essentially a non-factor. With the introduction of the Digital Video Recorder, the programming director has now become us.
Sports was once thought to be immune to this technology as the thinking went, ?sports are always better live.? That?s why they are packed with commercials and promotions like no other programming on TV.
However, as DVR usage has increased, the number of sporting events that folks are recorded first before watching has also increased.
They pay for their cable. So why should they pay to see commercials?
They shouldn?t. So increasingly they don?t.
There hasn?t been a must-see game on my TV that I haven?t first pre-recorded entirely or partially recorded before tuning in for years.
Then there is the almost universal access.
Essentially everything gets broadcast somewhere, and anyone anywhere can get to it if they really want to.
Now throw in broadband and you can understand how the telecommunications business has changed forever. Digital delivery to any device has evolved at a breakneck pace and the continued advancements in compression will, in a very short time, make what hoops we have to jump through currently to get to see what we want, when we want and where we want, seem silly.
It?s already happening actually.
At this year?s New Year?s Eve bash I was corralled by some guys wondering if I knew the score in the Canada vs. U.S. game at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
I pulled out my iPhone and tuned in the game - live. They had a nerdgasm.
But all of that pales in comparison to what?s next ? a true sports broadcasting revolution that will make HD seem quaint.
Mark Cuban has always been an innovator and he?s pushing the envelope once again showing some of his Dallas Mavericks games in 3-D. This year?s World Cup in South Africa will also be available using the technology.
But what changed everything was Tuesday?s announcement that ESPN is launching the world?s first 3-D channel this June. If you?ve seen Avatar, you?ve seen 3-D done well and are now salivating for your local team, up close, and seemingly almost in person.
So, ya, still no stinking jet packs.
But what we got is pretty frikin? cool!
Cheers ? and Happy New Year ? Gavin AKA Couch
betED.com
While we still await the opening of the local flying car dealership and all our food isn?t in pill form yet, the progression of technology is moving far faster than the Popular Mechanic futurists of the ?50?s ever imagined.
Perhaps nothing indicates this more than sports ? and how it is now consumed. Back in those days when anything was possible, there was one game of the week on national TV ? it was baseball. Sometimes local TV picked up the fringe sports like football or even more rarely basketball, but essentially all you had was a one-sport universe once-a-week and it was in black and white.
On-demand meant, getting up and actually going to a ball game and sitting in the stands.
Only Luddites do that anymore.
Today we have virtually unlimited access to any sport we chose to follow. In our digital universe, at any given time it would be more difficult to find a matchup that you couldn?t watch than the hundred or so that you could.
Cable revolutionized the sports world in the ?90?s. Few understood the impact it would have back then seeing the concept of a 24/7 sports station as something unsustainable.
Now we couldn?t imagine life without them ? and yet they are in so many ways already obsolete.
It all comes down to this: Why do we ever have to watch something somebody else has decided we should watch?
Just a few years ago, that was the rule of the game. The most important figure in any sports cable organization was the programming director upon whose shoulders lay the responsibility of negotiating for the rights to specific programming and essentially deciding what gets broadcast.
Now that last part of their job is essentially a non-factor. With the introduction of the Digital Video Recorder, the programming director has now become us.
Sports was once thought to be immune to this technology as the thinking went, ?sports are always better live.? That?s why they are packed with commercials and promotions like no other programming on TV.
However, as DVR usage has increased, the number of sporting events that folks are recorded first before watching has also increased.
They pay for their cable. So why should they pay to see commercials?
They shouldn?t. So increasingly they don?t.
There hasn?t been a must-see game on my TV that I haven?t first pre-recorded entirely or partially recorded before tuning in for years.
Then there is the almost universal access.
Essentially everything gets broadcast somewhere, and anyone anywhere can get to it if they really want to.
Now throw in broadband and you can understand how the telecommunications business has changed forever. Digital delivery to any device has evolved at a breakneck pace and the continued advancements in compression will, in a very short time, make what hoops we have to jump through currently to get to see what we want, when we want and where we want, seem silly.
It?s already happening actually.
At this year?s New Year?s Eve bash I was corralled by some guys wondering if I knew the score in the Canada vs. U.S. game at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
I pulled out my iPhone and tuned in the game - live. They had a nerdgasm.
But all of that pales in comparison to what?s next ? a true sports broadcasting revolution that will make HD seem quaint.
Mark Cuban has always been an innovator and he?s pushing the envelope once again showing some of his Dallas Mavericks games in 3-D. This year?s World Cup in South Africa will also be available using the technology.
But what changed everything was Tuesday?s announcement that ESPN is launching the world?s first 3-D channel this June. If you?ve seen Avatar, you?ve seen 3-D done well and are now salivating for your local team, up close, and seemingly almost in person.
So, ya, still no stinking jet packs.
But what we got is pretty frikin? cool!
Cheers ? and Happy New Year ? Gavin AKA Couch
betED.com
