In the beginning, computers talked to each other over phone lines. Then came ethernet, cable modems, DSL, wireless networks, MP3 players, PDAs and a slew of other technological innovations that completely changed the way media is consumed. Today, it’s more difficult to find a person who doesn’t use “the Google” than someone who doesn’t have access to a computer.
With the emergence of technology and the ability to enjoy more leisure activities on the computer, such as listening to music, reading an e-book or the newspaper, watching movies and television shows, media outlets are becoming more and more desperate to snatch up the advertising dollars being funneled into the digital realm. Within the past few months, all four of the major television networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – began offering primetime shows online. It’s an attempt at reinvention.
“If (networks) are going to survive, they’ll have to give us the next generation of what branded entertainment is, whether it’s watching video on an iPod or the Internet,” said Deborah Morrison, the Chambers distinguished professor of advertising at the University’s journalism school. “Network TV has kind of gone the way of the rabbit ears.”
The problem is that despite the advent of sites such as YouTube, where users can upload personal and commercial videos, there still isn’t anyone who knows anything substantive about advertising content online, Morrison said. So nobody is sure about the efficacy of offering television shows for free.
Is TV online the way of the future or a passing fad? Is a computer screen better than the boob tube?
The Emerald tested the networks’ online presentation of shows to see how they stacked up to each other. While all four say their shows do not require “buffering” (where video pauses to load data), all the shows would stop intermittently, sometimes for a second or two, other times for up to a minute. These breaks will be referred to as “pauses.” While the first viewing of the shows are reviewed, subsequent viewings proved different, sometimes with fewer problems, sometimes with more problems (sometimes the shows wouldn’t even play.)
Additionally, iTunes offers shows (and movies) for purchase. The iTunes player is reviewed as well.
ABC
Of the four major networks, ABC’s player was the most accessible and had the fewest glitches. However, this was only the case when the computer was hooked up to the Internet with a cable. On a wireless connection, “Lost” stopped after eight seconds when played full screen and wouldn’t start playing again. On the small screen version, it played, albeit with frequent pauses in the action (it took about two minutes to watch a minute’s worth of action.) The quality of the video was good – fluid movement and images did not appear pixilated.
There were limited commercials, which can be skipped once 30 seconds have played. ABC offers, among other shows, “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost,” as well as newcomers such as “Ugly Betty,” for viewing an hour after they air on TV.
NBC
Watching “Heroes” on Nbc.com was the most frustrating experience of the four networks. Constant pauses made it difficult to follow the show and the non-intuitive player had some coding problems that placed a banner ad over part of the screen. Plus, the same commercial for Burger King played during each of the five breaks. (The fact that the episode was rather boring didn’t help matters, either.) A subsequent viewing of “Friday Night Lights” fared better, with fewer pauses and different ads (albeit from the same company – Cadillac.)
The video quality wasn’t very good, either. It was choppy, and when a lot of action appeared on the screen, the picture became fragmented, with some parts moving faster than others. At one point during “Heroes,” two characters survey a scene of carnage. If they didn’t verbally describe it, it would have been impossible to tell what happened to the victims. Another annoyance was that the player’s volume starts at the highest it goes, which wasn’t pleasant considering the show was viewed WITH HEADPHONES ON. Sorry, didn’t mean to shout.
In addition to “Heroes” and “Friday Night Lights,” NBC offers, among others, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (quick! Catch it before it’s canceled) and “The Office.”
CBS
CBS’ player, Innertube, was easy to navigate. “CSI” played fluidly after it finally loaded (it took a few minutes via cable, didn’t load at all on wireless.) Much like NBC, where “Heroes” was an annoyance to watch but “Friday Night Lights” was more enjoyable, “CSI” played fine while “CSI: New York” did not. The difference in the two shows’ quality of video was plain. “CSI” looked good while its East Coast counterpart was a clunky, garbled mess of images.
All three of CBS’ “CSI” shows are available, as are “Jericho,” “Survivor: Cook Islands” and “NCIS” (if it weren’t for Mark Harmon, this show would suck. Wait a minute, it still sucks.)
FOX
The wily Fox has strategically placed its player, Fox On Demand, on MySpace.com, which is owned by Fox’s parent company, News Corporation. Watching the shows required downloading special software. Hopefully it wasn’t as malicious as Rupert Murdoch.
After a slow start – a dozen pauses in the first few minutes of viewing – the show “Bones” warmed up and played almost flawlessly. Most surprising was how good the show actually was. David Boreanaz shows there’s life after Joss Whedon.
Like the other networks, Fox required viewing periodic commercials, but these were 15 second clips instead of the others’ 30 second commercials. In addition to “Bones,” Fox offers, among others, “Prison Break” and “House” for viewing.
iTunes
Quite a few shows are available for purchase on iTunes, usually for $1.99 an episode or around $30 for a season pass. Where the major networks only offered episodes from this season (and some shows only had a select few episodes available), iTunes offers more episodes and the ability to wait to see something without fear of the network pulling the episode off its Web site. While freebies usually trump costs, if a show is going to be watched enjoyably on the Internet, iTunes is much better than the free shows on the networks’ Web sites. The iTunes player offers a true full screen view and higher quality audio and video. The shows come commercial free. The main downside is the file size of the shows. An episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” runs around 500 megabytes. A full season is around 10 gigabytes. An external hard drive is absolutely necessary to save the shows for later viewing.
Regardless of the quality of watching television on a computer, the technology is nowhere near close to matching the high quality of crappy sitcoms that can be seen every day at 9 p.m.
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