THE COLLAPSE OF TELEVISION

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This is from the Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/044/business/The_collapse_of_television%2b.shtml

-- Zdude (
zdude777@hotmail.com), February 13, 2000

Answers

This will depress you: I've got a satellite-dish TV system from Primestar, which was acquired last year by DirecTV. The DirecTV guy showed up on Friday to switch the old PrimeStar boxes out, and install the new DirecTV set-top box and remote control unit.

The new one looked just the same as the old one, but the installer went to great pains to show me that the new remote-control unit expects to see a four-digit channel-number. That's right ... plans to support up to 9,999 separate channels. According to a little message that was displayed on the TV screen while I was playing with the unit that evening, there are now roughly 1,250 local TV channels in the U.S.

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), February 13, 2000.


This actually might not be so bad? In my opinion theres not much redeeming value to most shows on TV today anyway.

I'd rather read a book or newspaper.

And then of course theres always my favorite fallback, the internet and this forum!

-- Zdude (zdude777@hotmail.com), February 13, 2000.


This will depress you:

Why? What's wrong with having lots of channels? It's not like you have to watch them all.

-- (hmm@hmm.hmm), February 13, 2000.


Bravo! The mainstream network television is a total waste - has been for years. If you're watching the history channel or the nature channel or c-span, that's great. Otherwise, you are wasting your life. I have about 12 books to read now but can't get it done because I spend too much time on the internet. We only turn on the TV to check the weather channel. We listen to shortwave radio all the time.

-- Y2kObserver (Y2kObserver@nowhere.com), February 13, 2000.

When Highlander & Due South went off first-run statis I gave up tv except for Sat. hockey games. [DH has finally joined our girls and I in our hockey obsession ]

Just see no point in watching the same-old same-old. Hate sit-coms, dr./cop shows, etc... Definately don't trust main-stream *news* [where everything is happy, happy, joy, joy!]. Even the tv weather forecasts are so off-base it's not worth taking the time anymore to see just how wrong they'll be, it's just too easy.

Log-on to internet to catch latest news first on places like this. Catch weather updates on internet sites, where accuracy is currently running about 92%.

-- justme (justme@myhouse.com), February 13, 2000.



I'm a "Trekie" 4 ever...love the whole series.

Thanks for the post Zdude!

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 13, 2000.


Sopranos RULE!!

-- Porky (Porky@in.cellblockD), February 13, 2000.

I am glad to know that Glenn and I are not the only ones who have thrown our Tv out the door. We watch and read everything on the internet or turn on the radio. The rest of the time we read. What a pleasure. Maybe I'll have to write a book or two to add to the list. It's nice to listen to the ticking of our old time clock instead of the slam, bang, pollunt noise in the background of every thing said and shown on TV. The continual advertisements and propaganda in everything they program is mind boggling. I think some people are afraid to be alone with themselves and so they drown their heads in the noise...seems they are afraid to even think.

But the peace and quiet as a backdrop to intellegent conversations was the way it was and I miss it. That's how I remember it was when I was a kid. Quiet, accept for sometimes the neighbors and family members came over in the evenings to sing songs around the family piano. We loved that kind of noise. Lots of laughing and talking and just having a nice get together. You know there is noise and then there is noise. One kind is harmonious the other is what I call lethal. The inharmonious noise in continual background on the TV is for me madness. I'm glad now for the internet. What an improvement for selective programming.

-- Gay Boling (wilber@montanasky.net), February 13, 2000.


Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander. William Morrow & Co, 1978. ISBN 0688082742

Be not the first by whom the New are try'd,

Nor yet the last to lay the Old aside.

(Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1711)

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), February 13, 2000.


Ed,

I guess "more is better" still sells. Heck, we even have a cable channel here that reruns our pitiful local news all day.

10k channels is one channel for every 35,ooo people in the US. Considering they'll all air Seinfeld at 7pm, that leaves 235,000 hours of additional air time per day to fill, meaning we each will get 6.7 hours of uh personal air time a day (based on 350mill pop).

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 13, 2000.



When we moved to the mtn's we got rid of the T V and we love it that way I read a lot more now and rest better.

-- noah (noah@themtn.com), February 14, 2000.

EVERYTHING "free Enterprise"has ever touched has turned into Manure.No Regulation,Limits,no Self Restraint of the corporate Riff Raff will turn this Media also into a huge,expensive Wasteland,in many Respects it already has.It seems the ultimate Goal is ,to buy the imported Junk directly from some greasy,long nosed Sleezeball,standing at the Dock with Cell Phone and Laptop,next to a rusty Freighter,giving You a verbal lifetime Warranty,with Return Address missing.Deregulation,Privatisation,Mega Mergers?You've got to be kidding.....

-- Jofus (go@get.em), February 14, 2000.

I totaly agree, for the most part TVee has no appeal to our family. We sure don't trust any national news, so we watch some local news and some weather. But wait till the ADVERTIZERS discover that Job 6-pack and Ed no-pack are out doing something other than watching TVeee. Yes agree TV will soon die down to a media for the nobodies. Justthinkin

-- justthinkin (justthink@tv.com), February 14, 2000.

Television is a playground for idiots.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), February 14, 2000.

I'd rather do and accomplish things than watch other people do and accomplish things. Geez, and people wonder how I stay slim for my age :-)

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), February 14, 2000.


TV: Chewing gum for the mind.

-- semper paratus (still_here_with@my.pals), February 14, 2000.

Rome would have fallen quicker if the Colliseum death fights had been televised ...... look quick, you're seeing it now.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), February 14, 2000.

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