TV networks know what we want--to watch TV at our own convenience, on the internet--but they refuse to let us do it how we want. "Oh, but Berg, you're totally wrong. I just watched the newest episode of The Office online without a problem." Wrong! There was a problem. You just watched the newest episode, not any episode. Networks will only let you watch one of a small selection, instead of any episode you want at any time.
I am not going to claim super-power expertise in the field of TV marketing, but I bet the reasons they are so stingy go something like this: 1) if we let Berg watch whatever he wants on the internet, where he has come to expect a relative dearth of commercials, he won't be watching the re-runs on tv and watching the advertisements we want him to watch like a mindless-zombie. 2) if we let Berg watch his favorite shows on the internet then we will be losing revenue on DVD sales. 3) If we have all the shows on the internet the chances that Berg will watch a new show we put on right after, or before, the show he already watches he won't be as likely to watch it.
There are probably others, you can comment them and I'll respond, but let me answer these ones for now: First off, the networks are correct in two of those assessments. I won't watch re-runs on tv, I won't buy dvd's. Of course, I don't do that already so they won't lose out. As far as watching ads during tv go...I don't know anybody who does that anyway. Ever since they invented the DVR there is no point in watching a commercial...seriously. Even for the newest episodes of whatever it is worth just pausing it for ten minutes before you start so you don't have to sit through commercials. And as far as DVD's go--that is already going out of style. DVD's are not long for this earth, it is only a matter of time until we are all just streaming our favorite stuff to watch. We are living in the digital age and won't be needing physical media much longer thanks to bigger and cheaper memory. It is already just as easy for me to download a season of something from iTunes and then stream it to my TV as it is for me to go buy a DVD, and put it in my player.
As far as not watching new shows is concerned, that is easy--advertise new stuff on your web-page that I will be frequenting when you have all the shows I want to watch on it. That really answers the other two questions as well. I am a lot more likely to look at advertisements that are at the edges of the screen than I am to watch them on a show I have already DVR'd. I'm also a lot more likely to visit your web-page a lot more often if you had all the shows I want to watch.
The bottom line is that the networks refuse to give us what we want and instead are trying to tell us what we want. Well guess what? This is America and sooner or later someone else is going to see the potential and swoop in and be awesome...why not just do it now so you don't have to lose the marketshare to the startup who is giving the people what they want instead of telling them.
Come to think of it, maybe I'll just go read a book.
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