Response to Jay Friedman's "Divergence Rather Than Convergence?"

Today,  Jay Friedman wrote an article entitled: "Divergence Rather Than Convergence?" In which, he posed an interesting question about the convergence of online with TV. His post got me thinking below is my response to one of several good questions he raised.
 
"When is it (Digital Convergence) going to happen and more importantly, what happens then?"

 

Hard question to answer, some would argue it has already happened. Most people can access online content through there TVs today using gaming systems (i.e. PS3 or Xbox), DVRs (Tivo) and home media center computers (PC & apple TV). The trouble with this argument is that content is so fractured and hardware anything but standardized you could hardly call this convergence.

 

Back in 1999, the dream of TV/Web convergence was an all-in-one machine part TV part computer. But this was before the advent of powerful mobile networks, cheap laptops, free wifi and DVRs. I'm not going to say the dream is dead. Cable providers and TV manufactures certainly have the means and financial incentive to deliver online content. They more importantly have the ability deliver it with familiarity of change of the channel.

 

So why hasn't "traditional" convergence happened? Cable companies concerned with growing there ISP services discourage bandwidth hogging services such as online video. This includes actively lobbying against net neutrality and developing payment systems based on tiers of bandwidth. This may change in the next few years given the FCCs new position on net neutrality and the growing strength of Telecoms as ISPs. Offering online content will help preserve and grow their existing business.

 

As for Internet enabled TVs, they're here now just not in large numbers. I personally, think that will change in the coming years. The golden rule for TVs has been the bigger the better. New Energy Star rankings will force manufactures to do more with less. In order to receive Energy Star certification in 2010 most makes will need to reduce power consumption by 40% and by 65% for 2012. This makes making 50" plus screen increasingly difficult and Internet access could be the feature that keeps us buying.

 

We like the idea of convergence. It keeps things simple. Ultimately, we just want an easy way to access all our content on demand. The TV/Web convergence probably will happen but not as we originally envisioned it. TV is no longer the focal point of our media diet, instead TV/Web convergence will be just "an occurrence within the growth of online itself". I would argue for the better.

 
Minima 4 coloum Blogger Template by Beloon-Online.
Simplicity Edited by Ipiet's Template