What Is The Future Of TV? [POLL]

Working in radio, we are always trying to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to industry advancement. Basically, we strive every day to implement social media and web strategies that will keep us in your mind, on your web browser, and on your radio presets.

While our industry has its ups and downs as we work in trends, new technology, and updated operating philosophies, we tend to get it right more often than not. Sure, we have our off moments, but we’re in a new digital age where no clear-set practices have been defined. We may be throwing darts at a wall, but more and more are sticking.

But what about television?

In radio, we no longer just have to compete with the stations across the street – we also have to worry about streaming, Pandora, Spotify, satellite radio, and your iPods. In TV, you have many, many more competitors to deal with.

We were pondering the future of television earlier today. I asked a co-worker where he thought that form of media would be in 10-20 years. We agree that it will not look like anything you see today, and cable/satellite services may go the way of the dodo.

Case-in-point: How many people do you know that have cut off all of their services and only watch Hulu, Amazon Prime, and/or Netflix? Personally, I dropped all of my movie channels, and only keep the basic package for a couple channels and football. As more and more channels are offering free apps, I’m finding that football is the only reason I still pay for cable. Heck, I spend too much time everyday just watching videos on YouTube – and they can be so much better than some sitcom or reality show that has maybe 3 minutes of entertainment in the entire half hour.

Local TV? Well, I haven’t watched a local newscast in years, mainly because I see it all online hours (or sometimes days) before it ever hits the boob tube. Plus, watching a local anchor stutter through a horrible story tends to get old.

The consensus around here is that some form of Smart TV’s will be in everybody’s house, and most everything will be on an app. You can watch it on the go, at home, or while you’re waiting in line. If you only had to pay a couple bucks per channel per month, why wouldn’t you? We’re already seeing it now, and it seems the entire industry is moving in that direction.

We understand that we don’t speak for everybody. Heck, maybe we’re the anomalies – which is why we want to know what your current TV viewing habits are. Take the poll below, and we’ll post the results (as well as a better insight into the future of TV) later.