OCTOBER 1, 2009

Dear Television: I’m Sorry, But Prime Time Doesn’t Work for Me Anymore…

I have four kids at home. My life schedule after work is a blur of activities, logistics, dishes, homework and mediation of disputes that last all the way until the last kid is stymied once again after he thought he figured a way to stay up past his bedtime. On a weekly basis, it is a schedule truly worthy of a NASA super computer to figure out. So watch TV in prime time… are you kidding? No chance.

Yet, I’m from the TV Generation… we grew up with sitcoms, dramas and now reality shows. I was bred to watch TV and spent much of my adult life working in 24-hour TV news at CNN. I’m in the 24-54 demographic for Pete’s sake… I am TV’s best friend! But life has changed and so have our schedules and so has technology. I don’t know what is taking so long and why others don’t see this all coming together like I do. So, let me put it this way, I know what I want went it comes to watching television and it suddenly dawned on me the other day that soon I will get it.

It’s really quite simple: I want to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it on whatever device that I choose. I want that device to be two-way, wireless, handy, with a killer screen, with charged and long lasting batteries where applicable and constantly capable of connecting to the news sites, entertainment sites, social networks, app stores, ebay and I’ll throw in Google Earth because, well, it’s cool. Is that too much to ask?

Yet I don’t have that today. Or don’t I? I already pay iTunes/NBC $1.99 for every episode of Law & Order, which I watch at my convenience on my iPod touch and rarely in prime time. I can also go to NBC.com and watch a missed episode there. I have the Verizon FIOS service at home, which brings a host of services into my house on one thin strand of glass. And that’s my point. It’s already one pipe to the service providers such as Verizon. It’s me and my way of looking at the world that divides that pipe into TV, phone and internet service.

You have heard of IED’s in Iraq… well how about IAD’s at home? Internet Assimilation Device - is there any question that in perhaps less than 5 years a TV will be little more than another outlet to display a connection to the internet and all the world it opens up? Honestly, it will be easier to find the programs I want to watch that way. Will anyone ever need a TV Guide again?

The truth is that very shortly there is likely to be little difference between the capabilities of the 3-inch iPhone screen, 6-inch Kindle screen, 10-inch Netbook screen and 75-inch home theatre screen. They will all draw content from the same locations and give me the same choices of information, entertainment and two-way interaction.

Anyone see it differently?