Bubble, bubble, TV trouble!
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Ah yes, Super Bowl Sunday.
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Still one of the (last) really big days for US network TV.
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But the usual twin suspects of greed and stupidity-and some technology-are surely going to put the mockers on "free" television as we have come to know it.
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The greed involves the amount of money the NFL extorts from the networks (3 billion bucks, plus for the current deal) for the right to gather in about 60 million SB viewers once a year.
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The stupidity is the failure by all concerned to see that the above is unsustainable for at least the foreseeable future.
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Why?
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Well, besides the fact that personal seat licences are pushing a decent pair of season tickets to around $4000 per, and cable and sat dish charges are rising-always-it is something that costs a tenth that will ultimately push the NFL and other sports on to a pay-per-view basis, and maybe even kill commercial based network TV as we have known it for 50 years.
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And the 1/10 something is something called a DVR, or Digital Video Recorder.
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Very few people I know that have the programmable, recording devices watch TV programs live anymore.
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Therefore, the 30 minute sit-com becomes a 22:30 view, with the 6 minute and a bit commercial time fast-forwarded into blurring-by oblivion.
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And me, a TV football viewer since 1963, no longer watches any NFL broadcast, live.
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Why?
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Recall that 3 billion buck NFL/TV deal?
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Well, part of the reason for the other-worldly amount of money, is because the networks get to insert even more bloody spots into the broadcast, especially with national and/or prime-time games.
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The 4th quarter of any national NFL telecast is a hideous crawl through the action, and a super-size-me commercial vomit-fest.
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So, when the Super Bowl began at 6:25 PM eastern, I was making dinner, then eating it, and finally, taking a shower.
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I picked up the game about 7:45, X4'd through EVERY frigging commercial and dumb-as promo, and caught up live inside the two minute warning, when the bastards had run out of spots.
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And that, is how I watch "live" sports, and anything else, now for that matter.
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Gee, if other souls do what I do, that does not seem sustainable from a commercial/network/NFL perspective. Does it? I mean, what advertiser is going to pay millions for commericals that get the digital bums rush?
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And gee whiz, save for those folks in bars and/or just drunk who have a use for the fooking commercials to run to the pisser, does anyone else know about this DVR thang?
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Just wondering...
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