Television In Decline?

VinLieger · 18-09-2014 02:36PM

Shakespeare's Sister wrote: »

Streaming's great but I still like the ritual of looking up what's on TV of a night.

This i do like just flicking through to see if anything is on. If not ill grab the laptop and continue bashing through a series but sometimes its nice to not have to make a decision about what to watch

AMKC · 18-09-2014 02:42PM

I watch tv all the time. I spend more time watching tv than being online. I think tv is good these days.There is some great shows on at the moment you just have to know what to look for and watch. Falling skys,
Defient,
Arrow,
The Mentalist,
Castle,
Hell on Wheels,
The Dome,
All great tv right there and thats only the ones I can think of.
Then there is repeats of great shows like all the Star Treks and they are in HD now too and look great. So wheather its your first time to watch it or your one thosand it looks better than ever.
I agree with the poster above about the BBC they can do some great documentaries and so can TV3 and RTE sometimes too. I also like watching shows like Prime Time and getting my news from the tv.
I agree there is a lot of crap on tv too like all them crap soaps and reality tv which really is crap. Get a life stop watching crap like that people.

Reality tv is pretty cheap chewing gum for the eyes and shows like Big Brother should be banned.The late late show is crap.But hay on the plus side we have HD channels so we can watch it all in HD now.

Game of Thrones
Love Hate
Champions league
Sky Movies
The Walking dead
All good TV right there.

I have to disagree with you about Sky Movies they constantly show he same movies over and over at least thats the way it used to be and say there is new films coming.

The best of the lot now is MTV....they are Music Television yet they don't show any Music at all

It's all "I'm 18 and up the stink!" or 'Reality' shows like Geordie/Jersey Shore that are more heavily scripted than soap operas

I agree MTV is gone to the dogs. I remember when it used to actually be a music station it was much better then. But there is loads of music channels now and its over saturated if you ask me none of them are really any good.

Akrasia · 18-09-2014 03:01PM

ScumLord wrote: »

TV is dead, internet streaming is brilliant.

I got rid of my tv nearly ten years ago now and watch what I want online. Anytime I go to someones house and see what TV is I don't know how people can sit through it.

Well it is and it isn't.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the viewers of trashy reality tv and soap operas because they are the people who buy the products that support the advertising that pay the television stations so that they can pay for the quality tv programmes that make it economically viable for the likes of HBO to spend so much money making the blockbuster TV shows that the non tv owners can watch online (either on a paid streaming service or by downloading them sub-legally)

kylith · 18-09-2014 03:17PM

Akrasia wrote: »

Well it is and it isn't.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the viewers of trashy reality tv and soap operas because they are the people who buy the products that support the advertising that pay the television stations so that they can pay for the quality tv programmes that make it economically viable for the likes of HBO to spend so much money making the blockbuster TV shows that the non tv owners can watch online (either on a paid streaming service or by downloading them sub-legally)

I'd say we'll be looking at an increase in Netflix like systems where you'll subscribe to the broadcasters that you want to view, or even just the programmes that you want to watch.

ScumLord · 18-09-2014 03:23PM

Akrasia wrote: »

Well it is and it isn't.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the viewers of trashy reality tv and soap operas because they are the people who buy the products that support the advertising that pay the television stations so that they can pay for the quality tv programmes that make it economically viable for the likes of HBO to spend so much money making the blockbuster TV shows that the non tv owners can watch online (either on a paid streaming service or by downloading them sub-legally)

Isn't HBO a paid subscription channel that doesn't use advertising?

TheSheriff · 18-09-2014 03:27PM

Dont have a tv in the new house and while it was strange at first not having something in the background I dont miss it at all now!

If I want to see something Ill just stream it on the lappy toppy!

Also saving on a tv subscription

pippip · 18-09-2014 03:32PM

I'm finding Discovery channel and the likes are really over dramatising their series's to the point of un-watchable. Shows like ice road truckers, American guns etc used to be fairly interesting as they were focused on the subject at hand, now they are completely over the top with the obviously bad editing trying to make everything out to be a much bigger deal that it is.

Really cant watch them anymore.

Fallschirmjager · 18-09-2014 03:38PM

So I can watch what a muppet in RTE, BBC thinks I should watch in a sequence they see fit...or I can goto the web and watch whatever I like....hmmmm let me think on that...

Your tv is nothing more than a big monitor to the web, jus most people have not accepted that yet.

The big stations are dinosaurs watching the sky wondering what the big explosion was....

ixoy · 18-09-2014 03:39PM

So all those people who stream TV shows say they're not watching TV? The shows you download or stream are still TV shows so I would still see it as watching television just not on a standard TV channel.

bear1 · 18-09-2014 03:40PM

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I was reading on the radio the other day that a lot of the programmes people stream using the internetwork, is actually made for the television. That can't be true, can it?

How did you do that?! :eek:

MRnotlob606 · 18-09-2014 03:41PM

Used to watch the History channel but that's gone to utter ****.

gugleguy · 18-09-2014 03:43PM

pippip wrote: »

I'm finding Discovery channel and the likes are really over dramatising their series's to the point of un-watchable. Shows like ice road truckers, American guns etc used to be fairly interesting as they were focused on the subject at hand, now they are completely over the top with the obviously bad editing trying to make everything out to be a much bigger deal that it is. .....

Once a respectable an educational channel to watch( up to 2006), the one art Discovery is emphasizing these days is the art of forward hyperbole

Fallschirmjager · 18-09-2014 03:45PM

ixoy wrote: »

So all those people who stream TV shows say they're not watching TV? The shows you download or stream are still TV shows so I would still see it as watching television just not on a standard TV channel.

They are different parts of the business. One side is production, the other delivery.

Of course we need companies to produce programmes but do I need a subsidised RTE to do that and deliver the content, my answer would be no.

Akrasia · 18-09-2014 03:46PM

ScumLord wrote: »

Isn't HBO a paid subscription channel that doesn't use advertising?

Syndicating their shows is one of their main revenue streams, so while HBO subscribers don't watch ads, when they sell the shows to other networks and other countries, those stations rely on advertising to pay HBO their license fee

Shiraz 4.99 · 18-09-2014 03:46PM

Any night I sit down to watch the telly it's always some new release I've lined up on my USB stick.
The only reason I still have Sky is for the kids stations.

Useful.Idiot · 18-09-2014 03:46PM

have a smart TV in the gaff that's hooked up to a Netflix account and a PS3. Only have the terrestrial Irish tv channels on the tv box so there's very little reason to watch non-streaming tv anymore!

Yamanoto · 18-09-2014 03:50PM

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

The only reason I still have Sky is for the kids stations.

BBC, ITV, RTE & lots of other kids channels are available free to air.

I dumped Sky a few years ago & don't miss a thing about it.

krudler · 18-09-2014 03:56PM

I never watch tv, basic cable is absolute gash in Canada so I just download and stream everything. The idea of having to sit down at a particular time every week and watch an episode of something is swiftly becoming a defunct way to watch tv. On demand and streaming will take over at some point completely.

I lived in a house back home for over 2 years with no tv channels, we just never bothered getting it connected when we moved in, didn't miss it a bit. I just watch what I like online and ignore all the utter cack. Although that being said browsing Netflix looking for something to watch has become the new "flick through the channels until something looks good" :pac:

Akrasia · 18-09-2014 03:58PM

kylith wrote: »

I'd say we'll be looking at an increase in Netflix like systems where you'll subscribe to the broadcasters that you want to view, or even just the programmes that you want to watch.

There was a move to force the TV subscription services to 'unbundle' their channels to allow subscribers to choose and only pay for the channels that they actually want, but it seems like this move has been scuppered by industry lobbiests

Specialist tv channels appeal to advertisers, so while you probably never watch 'the caravan channel', camping enthusiasts might, so the advertising revenue raised on that channel might actually subsidise the cost of the channels you prefer to watch. These channels often pay the satelite or cable company to include them in their broadcast network.

I like netflix, but 95% of the content on there doesn't interest me. Yet I'm still happier to pay for all of this content than having to go down the micro transaction route of paying for individual shows that interest me (it might possibly save money, but it would reduce my enjoyment of the service)

ScumLord · 18-09-2014 04:16PM

pippip wrote: »

I'm finding Discovery channel and the likes are really over dramatising their series's to the point of un-watchable. Shows like ice road truckers, American guns etc used to be fairly interesting as they were focused on the subject at hand, now they are completely over the top with the obviously bad editing trying to make everything out to be a much bigger deal that it is.

Really cant watch them anymore.

They do that with all their shows though, they seem to think people get bored with what the shows actually meant to be about and start scripting in drama to keep people interested.

I used to love a show called "call of the wildman" about the turtleman in America. He was a woodsman that used to catch snapping turtles that were killing livestock on farms that had rivers or ponds on their land. He lived in shack and worked for barter.

They moved him onto catching any type of wildlife, now it just seems to be a scripted show about the adventures of turtleman and his life in the woods. Barely a turtle in sight.

I think the main difference is they try to milk a show for everything it's worth rather than move onto something else. In europe most of these shows would be a one off documentary.

I've seen them do it over and over again, there was a one off documentary called "life after humans" or something along those lines. They then turned it into a serial were they managed to get an entire season out of the content of the first show without actually saying anything new. Same with ancient aliens. A one off show that would have you wondering dragged out into a few seasons were they turn it into a certainty of rubbish.

beks101 · 18-09-2014 04:22PM

I think the internet age has allowed us to become lazy about sitting around waiting for our favourite show to come on. Life is too busy to schedule time to make sure I'm in the house at a particular time to watch a particular show and if there's anything I really want to see, I'll just live stream it.

Ush1 · 18-09-2014 04:26PM

I watch some sport, hate anything else on television.

Put in a podcast and do some exercise/work on house or spend time with my son, better way to spend the evening.

stoneill · 18-09-2014 04:29PM

TV died the day that the BBC stopped showing Tomorrow's World.

kneemos · 18-09-2014 04:34PM

beks101 wrote: »

I think the internet age has allowed us to become lazy about sitting around waiting for our favourite show to come on. Life is too busy to schedule time to make sure I'm in the house at a particular time to watch a particular show and if there's anything I really want to see, I'll just live stream it.

With shows like The Sopranos or Band of Brothers I think part of the enjoyment was looking forward to the next episode and mulling over the previous episode.
Sitting down to watch two or three episodes at a time detracts from the enjoyment and excitement of a really good serious imo.

Shiraz 4.99 · 18-09-2014 04:42PM

Turbotennis wrote: »

You never watch old movies or television showseries?

I'd rarely rewatch a movie, Inception was the last one I can remember watching a 2nd time.
I do watch boxsets but I just download them in one go so I can binge.

ScumLord · 18-09-2014 04:45PM

stoneill wrote: »

TV died the day that the BBC stopped showing Tomorrow's World.

No no, boards is haunted.

somesoldiers · 18-09-2014 04:47PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I remember my Granda used to switch on the radio for the news and switch it straight off again after.

I used to think he was crazy, now I'm pretty much the same.

My great granny used to brush her hair and put on her best clothes to watch the news, as she could not be convinced the newsreader couldn't see her too...bless

Billy86 · 18-09-2014 04:49PM

Television has never been better than it is now and has been for the last 10 odd years.

Yeah there's some awful crap out there too, but there are also hundreds and hundreds of channels where there used to only be a dozen (and later a few dozen). But the best stuff (and there is a lot of it) is heads and shoulders above almost anything made previously.

Adamantium · 18-09-2014 04:51PM

Battlestar Galactica is my favourite series of all time, but I could not imagine waiting a week to see every episode, jesus the tension at times would have made have multiple heart attacks just hanging on. My brother and I blew through it in under a month on Blu Ray.

I find you appreciate the writing and characterisation more on binge watching. It becomes less about surface plot, the work gone into long form storytelling is well above even above the golden age of movies at this point

I remember I couldn't believe when Lost came back after the writers strike in 2008, after almost 16 months of speculation after that stunning cliff hanger that changed everything about the show and what was to come, to finally watch season 4 was surreal and dreamlike. It was an event, drip fed on network televison

Breaking Bad was the only show besides Lost that had that sort of global craze and I was surprised to see it happen everyone get together in houses for the final episodes and stream it when they wanted. It was nice to see that event watching still exists in the age of streaming/Netflix age

NIMAN · 18-09-2014 08:55PM

Television is miles ahead of cinema over the last decade or so.

Television In Decline?

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