Internet use threatens to overtake TV: poll

[Spazito]

The gap between Internet and TV usage is closing, with the Internet threatening to overtake television, a new poll suggests.

snip

The study warns that although television is still the number one media source for Internet-using Canadians, the gap is closing and if the trend continues the Internet could soon overtake television.

According to the study, younger Internet-using Canadians are particularly enthusiastic users of the Internet, surfing on average 14.7 hours per week.

snip

"Traditional sources for news and information are facing stiff competition from the Internet as seen by the high growth of Internet use compared to other traditional media," says Rogers.

more

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1123592641078_62/?hub=TopStories

(This poll is Canadian but I suspect the same would be true in the US if it were done there as well)

[gtar100]

1. It's overtaken TV in my household

Where else are we going to find out what's going on in the world? On the TV??? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[goforit]

14. rotflmao!!!

[E-Z-B]

2. That applies to me as well

After watching an hour of world news and simpons reruns, I stop watching television for the most part and either go on the internet or *gasp* read a book! I can't handle any more reality shows.

The only exception to my schedule is Family Guy on sundays.

[SemperEadem]

5. I remember when Family Guy did their intro like Law and Order

I about fell out when I saw that... it was clever.

[Pystoff]

29. Adult Swim

Can't live without it. And can't live with corporate media on all the other channels.

[sam sarrha]

3. They will be kicking down our doors and busting us for 'Puters...

Computers are a gateway machine, that least to harder electronic machine usage, we must stop this plague before it is too late, obliterate this scourge upon humanity...

and return out children to good decent government approved propaganda and crass commercialism.

[Dover]

4. There's nothing WORTH watching on T.V. - internet is a refuge

It's also a way to have a conversation with others regarding the news rather than one-way information flow from the T.V.
I don't think this trend is any surprise to the media industries. I feel pretty confident they have anticipated it.

I don't have cable so I've consciously reduced my t.v. options...but I've heard friends WITH cable complain, "...so many channels, so little to watch.".

[E-Z-B]

6. I got rid of cable, too

It was seriously a big waste of $45/mo. I found myself watching the major networks anyway if I wasn't on the internet.

[xxqqqzme]

7. lets see - Monk 1.0,

Stargate 1.0, West Wing 1.0, any PBS mystery 1.0, NOW .5 & Jon Stewart 2.0. Thats 7.5 hrs a week of TV. Only one network program on Wednesday. All the rest R weekends except Jon. Stoppped watching TV 'news-ertainment' in '95.

[AlGore-08.com]

8. Boy howdy, whoever invented them Internets sure did us all a big favor

:patriot: Thank you, President Gore! :patriot:

[Terran]

9. The whole notion of television

is starting to seem a little quaint, now that I think about. It's passive, non-customizable, and rarely in real-time. Right now the only good thing about it is huge screens and high definition, and how many people can afford that?

[Eloriel]

25. Good point. And even all that would be tolerable if only

the news weren't primarily entertainment, and entertainment (aka: celebrities and Hollywood) now a large part of what gets reported as "news" and Reality (shows) NOT real at all, etc.

[cliss]

10. This is GREAT news, just made my day.

We got rid of our TV a few years ago. Our living room has -- furniture in it.

Nobody misses it; no one is begging us to bring it back. We're - online. Reading the DU, other newsgroups and blogger sites. This is where it's happening, baby.

Some factoids: TV viewership is down. People are disgusted with meaningless, propaganda-type "news". I've read that Faux News is posting huge losses.

Newspapers are declining. People don't read the news like they used to. The argument is that "it's old" and "we can get cutting-edge news online".

[Zhade]

20. IIRC, Faux lost something like 50% of its viewers in six months.

That's known as "freefall" in the broadcasting world.

Needless to say, I'm not sobbing into my pillow over the news!

[Dora]

23. Shout out to the TV-less!

:thumbsup:

We've been without television for years now, and we still have close friends who are always asking us, "did you see..."

It's so annoying, especially so because we never ask them what they'd like on their burger (they're vegetarian).

[mom cat]

11. Nominated! This is the reason that our word is getting out in spite

of the managed media. :applause::bounce::woohoo::bounce::applause:

[NinetySix]

16. Just like after the coup in the USSR back in '90.

The truth stops coups in their tracks, so the regime has to shut down the truth. But how do you shut down the internet?

[mom cat]

27. Yuo know they will try to shut down the internet...I hope that it is too

late!

[wli]

12. the US MSM is all lies, pure propaganda, and paid shills

There's no reason to watch them.

[Carolab]

13. TV IS as FCC Chairman Newton Minow said "A WASTELAND".

Prescient is what he was.

"When television is good, nothing--not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers--nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland."

This speech is properly titled "Television and the Public Interest". It was a landmark speech for the medium of television, at a time when there were only three networks in the country and when the realm of television was much less vast than it is today. Nonetheless, it is counted as one of the one hundred best American speeches of the 20th century by several authorities.

Thirty-five years after making this indictment of the medium, Minow told Canadian magazine Maclean's that little had changed. "I think in many ways, sadly, it has deteriorated. We have a much wider choice, with the advent of cable and public television. But I think that the level of stuff thrown at kids, especially, has gone down."

[Uncle Joe]

26. Here is another interesting experiment to try.

Football season is beginning, on average a game lasts three hours, have your stopwatch ready to time how much of that three hours turns out to be commercials. It is ridiculous and nauseating, the same holds true for their "news" broadcast. Not only is there more commercial than news, they coordinate the timing of their commercials so that if flip stations, you still only get commercials, usually some pharmaceutical peddling legal drugs.

[trogdor]

15. Flash toons rule!

Some of my faves:

http://www.homestarrunner.com (Really funny, and G-rated enough for even the holy rollers to watch. Updated weekly. NO popups.)
http://www.illwillpress.com (AKA Foamy The Squirrel. R-rated, Updated intermittently.)
http://www.joecartoon.com (Tasteless, but funny. PG-13 or therebouts. Some humor tends toward the Freeper end of the spectrum. Updated once in a blue moon. Lots of popups.)
http://www.killfrog.com (More tasteless than Joe Cartoon, but more recent content. Also, lots of popups.)


Other non-Flash sites I like:
http://www.archive.org has lots of old movies, industrial films, vintage TV commercials, cartoons, fan-recorded Grateful Dead live shows dating back to 1968, indie rock from bands you've never heard of, filmed lectures on various subjects (mostly math and tech), pretty much something for everybody.

http://www.atomfilms.com has indie films, Flash stuff, stop-action stuff, everything from G-rated stuff to borderline NC-17. Look for a Star Wars fan film called "Pink Five." It's hilarious. Angry Kid is also good, but a little tasteless. Moderate number of popup ads, but they prefer to stick an ad in front of each film you watch.

http://www.newvoyages.com is a site where a bunch of guys in California with too much money and cooperation from some of the original Star Trek writers and production staff create new episodes of the original series. Seeing someone else play Captain Kirk might throw you off initially, but these episodes (two so far, with two more coming before the end of the year) are at least as good as the ones starring William Shatner.

Anyone else with TV alternatives they want to share?

[Zhade]

22. Don't forget Newgrounds.

Or, as it's been called, "Dumping Grounds" - there's some good stuff there, and a TON of crap. Their list of all-time best has some real gems, though!

Homestar's where it's at, yo! I wore a red Cheat shirt to work the other day. =)

Nice shout-out to Pink Five, btw, I found it highly amusing.

[Castilleja]

17. We use the computer more than TV, as well.

Our mistake is having 4 people and 1 computer! We only watch cable, and only certain channels, or movies. Maybe it's time to get a second computer for the kids....

[Zhade]

18. One word: bittorrent.

IIRC, 1/3rd of last year's internet traffic. It allows, essentially, for 'time-shifting' - I don't have (free company-paid premium-package) DirecTV service at my apartment because I left my dish and box at my friend's house as a gift for her grandfather, a thank-you for letting me live with them for a few years.

Now I download television shows, watch them, and in 99% of the cases delete them after watching.

I much prefer it over dealing with commercials, and since I already have the service for free, I don't think it's wrong.

[Arugula Latte]

19. A few years ago, I never would have thought I'd completely give up

on cable news and get about 85 % of my news from the Internet (with 15 % from the newspaper) but that's the way it is. I am FURIOUS with the lies and propaganda the asshole corporate whore cable stations pump out 24-7. I just cannot abide that crap anymore.

Long live the Internet!

[geckosfeet]

21. No TV (cable or broadcast) in my house. Eff the msm. nt

[Dora]

24. Us too.

Lost the tv in a burglary - never replaced it.

[donkeyotay]

28. I lost my tv in a burglary, too - the 2000 election

They pissed my off so bad with their character assassination of Gore and their fawning free pass for the Dismal One that I gradually stopped watching. How can you take a golden goose like television and screw it up? I hope they all go bankrupt. Long live DU!

[geckosfeet]

30. God works in mysterious ways,,,,, nt

[belle]

31. Dumped cable eight months ago. Don't miss it.

Especially now that Six Feet Under is coming to an end, and Buffy long gone...

I still have the box; occasionally i'll flip it on if I want local news (NY 1 actually isn't bad as these things go), and I stick tapes in my ancient VCR sometimes. mostly it stays dark, though.

Sooner or later, you know, TV will completely merge with and come *through* the 'Net; and then we'll see what we see. i'd like to hope it will mean better TV and not more commercialized, corporate-owned 'Net, but, well, who knows. maybe some of each?

[moondust]

32. Time to speed up the Internet.

Ever more users, ever more advertising, ever more communications (VoIP), etc., etc., over the Web are slowing it way down. I hope somebody has a plan to speed it up before it comes to a standstill.

[Digit]

33. TV = Screaming car commercials & RW BS

In my area, TV has become unbearable. The commercials drive me up the wall; mostly from one idiot who is racing at the TV camera, screaming that he is the lowest price blah blah blah. I can mute so many times, until I turn off the TV entirely.

Reality shows suck.

I wish they would run the old classic movies more on tv. Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Abbott & Costello, The Marx Brothers, to name a few. Old episodes of Johnny Carson would also be welcomed.

I also used to watch the news...that is until the news became so biased since * came into office.