I've been hearing a lot of talk about TV. There's mobile TV you can watch on your cellphone or PDA, and HDTV that gives you incredibly clear, sharp images on your TV at home. But lately on-line TV has really caught my interest.
I think it all began when Steve Jobs launched the new iPod with video. During his presentation he screened a clip of a video blog called Tiki Bar, which just happens to be produced right here in Vancouver. The bi-monthly program is based on a number of inventive cocktail names like Volcano and Red Oktober, and attracts upwards of 200,000 viewers per month. That's more than some established cable TV shows. And it's only available on the Web.
If most of us were still using dial-up, this format would be impossible, but with broadband connections now in some 100-million households worldwide, audiences are ready and waiting. But on-line TV is not just for watching. These days, digital cameras and video-editing software are so affordable and user friendly, almost anyone can be a filmmaker.
Cutting-edge technology is making it incredibly easy to bypass traditional video distribution. Take You Tube (www.youtube.com), for example. Started just last February, You Tube is the 32nd most visited site on the Internet, receiving 35,000 video uploads and serving up 30-million video views each day. This popularity undoubtedly stems from the site's simple offering. All you need to do to broadcast your very own video is upload, tag, and share. From there you can create video groups, or browse through thousands of original videos. And, similar to the photo-sharing site Flickr, You Tube has plugged in to the interests of users to help it select and filter the videos you see.
Not surprisingly, big business smells the opportunity here. Google Video is a recent offering from the ever-expanding Google umbrella that allows you to sign up for an account and upload videos using the Google video uploader. It's still in the beta testing phase, but Google plans to allow budding filmmakers the chance to promote and preview their clips for free, and to sell the full clip to interested viewers. Google is also offering on-line video clips from a number of studios, including CBS, which has made individual episodes of shows like "CSI" and "Star Trek" available to buy on-line. The big stations and broadcasters are also starting to put their shows on-line. A number of "Everybody Hates Chris" episodes are available on You Tube, and some stations are even choosing to broadcast breaking news on the Internet. Just last month National Geographic used the Web to announce the discovery of the Gospel of Judas, with the full live press conference screened on-line.
More people are tuning in to TV on the Net than you might think. When the new "Battlestar Galactica" series (shot right here in Vancouver) was first released, the pilot ran on the Web. It's now the most popular sci-fi show on TV. And the forthcoming New Line Cinema feature "Snakes on a Plane" (also shot in Vancouver, just last summer) made media headlines a few weeks ago because of the incredible Internet buzz surrounding its release. The fanfare began when "Snakes" screenwriter Josh Friedman posted an entry about the film on his blog back in August. Now more than 7,000 blogs refer to the movie, and bloggers have created a cult following through the use of songs, music videos, and mock movie trailers. And when the on-line fans complained about the PG-13 rating, New Line shot extra footage. The movie will be released in August rated R. "Snakes on a Plane" has become the most anticipated B movie ever. All thanks to the fans who created spoof video and shared it on the Web.
So what will happen to good old traditional TV? Instead of gathering round the tube, will we be popping corn to share in front of the computer screen?
Not quite yet.
With the availability of HDTV and better picture quality, TV is still ahead of the Web when it comes to audience experience. As it is now, people can't watch live HDTV on-line, since the file sizes are just too large and slow to stream. You know that annoying pause you see sometimes in on-line video? Imagine that happening while you're trying to watch your favourite sitcom.
However, if you're looking for something less mainstream, then TV shows from the Web might be right up your alley. The next time you say, "there's nothing on," take a look at what's showing on the Web.
