Is Television about to vanish?

Horror of horrors, Mummy Militant and I had to survive without a television for an entire week last month! While this would drive most Americans into apoplexy, we managed to survive by relying on antiquated alternatives like 'conversation' and 'reading a good book.'

That being said, there were four highlights to our week that we risked missing due to a lack of a television. Monday's 'House,' Wednesday's 'Knight Rider,' Tina's favorite show, Thursday's 'Ugly Betty' and the sci-fi saga that is 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' on Friday.

But astonishingly, we were able to watch all of them via the Internet!

Each network's website actually shows streaming video of each episode (after they've aired, of course) meaning that we could watch all of our favorite shows without a television!

Admittedly, they were slightly 'buggy,' with annoying adverts crammed into inconvenient places and a rather clunky interface... But more than serviceable enough for somebody like me to get my head around.

Which begs the question: Is TV about to vanish?


It's certainly something Wifey and I have been talking about. We have a DVD player and the Internet, so it's more than likely that we could eliminate our television without missing any of our favorite shows. Then we'd eliminate the insipid 'background noise' that most televisions become (ours is on from 7pm until 9pm every night - longer if Wifey has HGTV on.)

Services like YouTube and Hulu offer the opportunity to watch episodes of all sorts of TV shows on your computer screen (at varying levels of quality) and that makes the whole thing seem like a viable proposition...

The problem?

Our cable network.

Most residential neighborhoods have a cable company or Direct TV to provide not just their television, but their Internet and telephone services as well. I think Direct T V call it the 'triple play' or something along those lines.

The problem is, the price of each service is linked to having the other services. For instance, if you have television, Internet and telephone services through DirectSatTV, each one is priced at $29.95 a month, meaning you're paying about $100 a month. However, if you decide to ditch the television part of that deal, they jack up the cost of your telephone and Internet services so you end up paying - you guess it - about $100 a month!

So, really, it's worth having television services through DirecTV just because it's essentially 'free.' You're paying the same either way!

I think it's this clever scheme which keeps people glued to their television. If people weren't blackmailed into having television service with their Internet and telephone - perhaps they wouldn't!

That would be incredible. I wonder how it would affect the way people watch TV. I know Wifey and I would certainly watch less of it - becoming a la carte consumers who only choose to watch the shows we want, when we want.

I imagine that's a terrifying prospect not just for television networks, but for advertisers in general. Unless people are glued to the 'idiot's lantern' every night, how are they going to be crammed to the gills with all the commercialized nonsense that's slathered over American television?

Considering that telephone service is fast being overtaken by Internet-only services too (we talk to my parents, in France, via Skype each week) perhaps it's only a matter of time before Wifey and I finally take the plunge and scrap both television and telephone service from Directtv.com - finally meaning we actually save money by only having Internet service from our cable provider.

The fact is, we wouldn't save that much money and we'd be reliant on a single Internet provider for all our modern 'essentials.' Given how our Internet crashes at least three times a day, I think that's a plunge niether of us are quite yet willing to take.

But it's coming. Whichever way you look at it, the days of television (and telephone) as we know it are numbered. Ultimately, I think that's going to be a great thing.