My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
I was talking last week about the ongoing demise of the daily newspaper in America. I'm interested to note the very different approach being taken by another old line media whose obituary seems to appear every year these days, television.
It's kind of funny to think about TV as an old line media. The reality is that for most Americans TV has only been a presence in our homes for slightly over 50 years.
While newspapers seem resigned to the end Television apparently has decided not to go down without a fight. The National Association of Broadcasters just ramped up a new campaign to show that TV can still be part of the media future. The campaign includes a website called thefutureofTV.org (the future of TV is not long on creativity apparently but scores points for being to the point) and is backing it up with ads on both radio and, well big surprise, TV.
Looking out at the landscape of TV technology you'll see plenty of activity too. HD TV is almost old hat at this point. While there are still plenty of households to gain for the newer technology I don't think we can call it cutting edge. I will admit that I thought it was over-hyped till I actually saw some HD broadcasts. Yes, it really is that much clearer. Of course the next big thing is supposed to be 3D TV. My lingering reservations about the whole 3D thing remain. I'm willing to be convinced but haven't been so far. Sales of the first round of 3D TVs has been lackluster at best. You still have to wear those dumb glasses (although its opened up a whole new industry - designer 3D glasses. I kid you not). The other thing holding back sales of 3 D TVs, other than the hefty price tag, is the promise that we might be seeing 3D TVs that don't require the glasses as early as this year. While I sure that manufacturers would love to see their product move into the disposable product category as long as the price tags are in the multiple thousands of dollars category I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Why is all of this of any interest? Curiously TV viewership is on the rise. So maybe there's life in the old media yet. At least enough to make a fight of it. Nice to see for a change.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
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