NFL on TV and the iTunes allowance
At the start of this years Football season NBC showed a live game on NBC.com where I watched.
It was a great experience.
You could see a number of cameras on and around the field while the teams were warming up (no sound) and then during the game switch to the live “broadcast” view of the game (normal sound).
Throughout you could see a Twitter stream next to the game with some basic sentiment analysis. It was a cool visual to see who was saying what and what they were thinking that did not get in the way. I am a big fan of a-la-carte-cable packages (although they do not exist yet in any form I can use) and have been without “cable” TV for about 3-4 weeks. Experiments like this shed some light on the future of TV, and show that the networks are willing to take some risks and try out new things.
The iTunes Allowance
I find myself actively paying for content now that I do not have a fixed bill, and think of the cost of what I would normally spend as an “allowance” for buying/renting shows.
I am spending less overall, but the dollars I do spend are going direct to the broadcaster (split with iTunes of course)
This has changed my viewing habits considerably as I no longer channel surf, but have to literally know exactly what to watch. It has made my computer attached to my TV the main source of video in my house, and I do not see it changing anytime soon.
There is a reason to get a working cable box again, but I am thinking of at least downgrading to the minimum viable cable possible based on the last month.
