Friday, October 28, 2011

Possible way to make revolutionize TV

So I was reading about how Steve Jobs "cracked" the TV industry but what could they possibly do at Apple (or other companies) to do this? Here are my ideas.


The only way I would see TV "revolutionized" would be if 1) cable companies lost the ability to package channels and the consumer can choose INDIVIDUAL channels. For example, I love Comedy Central so I would love to have that as one of my core channels but I don't give a damn about MTV and Jersey Shore (or infomercial etc etc). This has already been done in Canada but by the government and people can just pay for the channels they want and are not forced to buy 150 channels to watch 10 of them.

2) instant demand of the shows and integration of social networks into the TV set. In today's world of instant gratification, TV is way too slow. We have to conform to the TV's and the network's demands, schedule, which is a concept that is completely outdated. The only way TV can beat the internet is through instant delivery of TV shows (i.e. live sports games, live concerts, etc etc) and their replays. Let's say you want to watch a football game that starts on 7 pm but you were late to get home so you're back at 7:30. Of course you want to continue watching it but you want to see it from the beginning.

What if, you could watch the beginning of the game at 7:30 pm and just continue watching the replay until you catch up to the whole show till it ends? This way, you don't have to watch part of it now and then rewatch the beginning later. And of course, it would be great if somehow this content was available to you after the show is over for replay value and accessed by computer, iOS device etc.

Also, if they integrate social networks into the TV, that would be amazing too. Imagine if you're watching a basketball game and Lebron James just dunked over two defenders; the right hand side will show real live comments from Facebook and Twitter users commenting on it. You can even comment on it and if it's too distracting, you can put it away as well. This integration allows you to see feedback from others around your community, your country or the world and makes TV a more social experience rather than simply a one to one experience. Imagine the TV can listen to your voice if you and some friends are physically away from each other (i.e. you are watching TV at home, your friends are watching it in Florida)  and you can communicate through the TV through VoiP most likely to comment on the game, etc.

Touchscreen doesn't make sense for a TV because no one stands in front of the TV to use it...they sit down far away from it. Integration with a touchscreen device however would be great i.e. an Ipad app that allows you to use a remote. Not just a remote, but also the TV guide on the Ipad as well; I hate watching TV because it's so goddamn annoying trying to find that ONE show in the hundreds of channels. The interface sucks using the remote and the TV; it needs to be simplified and using the iPad to do that would be great.

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