A look ahead -- TV

It's now 25 years since 1984. Here is the future of what we used to call "Television":

Commercial Television:
Spot ads will disappear. Sponsor-integrated shows.create the illusion of an ad-free experience. News continues to devolve away from factual journalism. The current Spingeresque freak-show opinion fest will merge with "light news" to become a feeder for sponsor-integrated shows -- "next up -- What happened to American Idol? Details after this word from our sponsors..."

Public Television:
"Messages from supporters" will be replaced with what used to be called spot advertising. Intermissions will increase in frequency until they reach the most profitable message-to-content ratio, and subscriber telethons will be replaced with a more convenient surcharge on your delivery provider subscription.

Next Wave Television:
Underground "open-video" stations will start appearing, built from recycled legacy technology and operated by neo-socialist college students and 70's throwbacks.

Trends:
Viewership will increase with the advent of the "ad-free" sponsor-integrated programming but will start dropping in favor of local, free "open-video". The OV movement will grow virally until it becomes a practical threat, at which time OV providers will be sued station-by-station by the content delivery industry for violating copyrights and breaking FCC frequency spectrum use restrictions.

And life will go on.

Peace,
Robert