I look forward to the day when the internet is king of the television
I've never seen the last series of Frasier. I loved that show, and made sure I was in every Friday night at 10 to watch it on Channel 4. But then, inexplicably, it was moved to something like 11.30 on a Thursday. So I have no idea whether my favorite radio psychiatrist falls in love, moves on, or disappears into himself, at the end of the last episode.
Maybe that's why I'm a huge fan of Internet TV - when the net is used to deliver all our entertainment, we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want it. We won't be slaves to the channels' scheduling, and they won't need to try and juggle their shows to maximize some audiences, while sacrificing others. On-demand TV is the future.
The choice of content will be overwhelming, and so although we will be able to watch any of thousands of TV series past and present, and millions of user-generated videos from sites like YouTube, we'll stay in control by creating our own channels, or playlists. They'll contain our favourite shows, plus other stuff the TV thinks we might like, based on our viewing history. There are already hints as to what future TV may look like.
After all, anyone who has been series-linking programmes using Sky+ has been creating their own little on-demand channel for a while. And if you want the most futuristic experience right now, the Xbox 360 and PS3 are both on-demand entertainment hubs with a great range of streaming TV and movies. Tag on the Xbox Kinect, and you get to control your TV just by talking to it.
South Korea has possibly the most advanced internet TV service in the world. Speeds in excess of 100Mbps give viewers 120 channels, including HD and 3D, plus on-demand and interactive services like homework study videos, karaoke apps, news and weather and a bizarre form of in-programme shopping, where you can download a soundtrack, order the food being cooked, or buy the shirt the actor is wearing, while you're watching.
Opening up TV to the raw, untamed web is not such a brilliant idea. It'd be difficult to navigate and impossible to find the good stuff, so we're sure to see a lot of competition to build the best semi-walled-garden experience, and get it onto as many TVs as possible. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Sony are just some of the platforms already up and running.
And here there's danger for the existing broadcasters. As these new platforms replace TV channels, they'll steal all the advertising revenue too. Will ITV, Channels 4 and 5 and even the BBC be reduced to production companies, earning their keep by selling programmes to the platforms, or individually to us? They're trying to prevent this by teaming up to bring us their own platform, Youview. An exciting future beckons. Most of us will need much faster broadband first. But as long as the government delivers on that promise, TV will change forever. And I may get to find out what happened to Frasier.
