Watch your step. As the media landscape evolves, it isn’t just shifting, it’s spreading out.
You never know where you might see your favorite TV show next. TV executives are stumbling on surprises too. They don’t know under which rock or behind what new technology the next idea for a primetime show may be hiding.Before we get to the new series, most of which won’t appear until mid-September, consider how you may watch them.
As a measure of how quickly things are changing, consider these developments of the past week:
- Fox announced that its beloved but short-lived comedy “Arrested Development” soon will be beamed to three places at once. Catch it on a “portal,” a “platform” or whatever you call it. Even, perhaps, on your old-fashioned TV set. “Arrested” is coming to cable’s G4, to high definition via HDNet and to the online world via Microsoft’s MSN. Microsoft will run the episodes for free, with video ads.
- PBS jumped into broadband. The noncommercial service said it will offer episodes of “Nova,” “Now,” “Scientific American Frontiers” and “Antiques Roadshow” – plus kids’ shows like “Arthur” – for download on Google video. PBS will sell its shows for $1.99 each, except the science series “Nova,” which will retail for a relatively steep $7.99.
- NBC unveiled a deal with NetFlix, the largest online movie rental service, that will place several of the network’s buzz-worthy fall series in the hands of 5 million NetFlix subscribers before the TV premieres.
- CBS Radio News launched its network news podcast, a 5-minute wrap of the day’s news as an MP3 file available for download (cbsnews.com).
- Perhaps most important, NBC picked up a failed sitcom that was attracting attention on the Internet. “Nobody’s Watching,” a rejected WB pilot, amassed a following on YouTube, the go-to site for amateur video artists. The comedy was essentially launched into the ether as a viral video; when it amassed a burgeoning number of screen hits, it was nabbed and put into production by an old-school network.
The move could well influence the route that writers, directors and network development executives take from script to screen in years to come.
The networks want a hand in all the latest technologies, in case something turns out to be the next big thing. They’re trying to prove they can be as nimble as their audiences, chasing entertainment wherever it pops up. The message for viewers: Find what you like and follow it. There’s no need for geek-speak: “platform,” “content,” “portal” and the like. Just know that your favorite shows are turning up in all sorts of places.
“The media that you grow up with determines who you are,” says Alan Wurtzel, an NBC research guru. Baby boomers approach iPods and cellphones differently than Gen X or Y. For now, most viewing still takes place on TV.
But even the networks are changing their ways. More are sharing shows, believing that channel number matters less than programming these days. Corporate siblings are cross-pollinating, doubling up to get more exposure. Most recently, CBS broadcast Showtime’s series “Brotherhood” (both CBS and Showtime are Viacom properties). The old adage that people watch shows, not networks, has never been more apt.
The migration of TV shows to new places – pinch me if I say “platforms” – is the most exciting and unpredictable aspect of these shifts.
Keenly aware of the creep of TV programming beyond the small screen, the company that tracks ratings is revising its system to monitor the change. A.C. Nielsen plans by year’s end to introduce a new method for measuring television programming viewed over the Internet.
The terrain is shifting. Some of these experiments will flop, others may stick. But there’s no going back to the days of plain old television.
Even if the closest you come to modern technology is a VCR, you’ve already taken the first step toward active TV watching. Your next step is mobility.
In the future, fewer people will sink into the couch and passively wonder what’s on. We’ll saddle up, download and go after our preferred, pardon the expression, “content.”
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-820-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
