Jericho stars ask fans to stop downloading and timeshifting episodes

How many pounds of "Nuts" were delivered to CBS?  I was'nt even going to start "watching" Jericho because I knew they would cancel it and leave us all hanging, but I got hooked, and as usual got screwed!  I DVR Everything, and watch when _I_ want !  Too bad the networks don't get it.

I can see where we may be headed.  Once the TV execs realize it's a losing battle, first TV production costs will shrink to try to make better use of the smaller amounts that advertizers are willing to pay, and then they'll realize the ultimate solution. Direct to DVD shows, with embedded commercials.  I mean people are gobbling up DVDs of TV shows already anyhow, right?

The 'fast forward' option will be disabled as it is now for those interpol/FBI warnings. Of course these will still be ripped off by the tech savy and non-commercial versions will suddenly appear (online again). If there is enough demand, we'll start modding/flashing our DVD players so that the FF will always be enabled.

The market will be kind of like the direct to DVD movie market. Perhaps only pilot episodes, the odd midseason show, and of course, the cliff hanger season ending shows will be broadcast. But as momentum builds and ALL shows go that route, then there won't be anything else to broadcast. So TV networks will stop broadcasting period! And then the only way to get the word out will be either by internet, or bring the pilot shows to the Movie theaters (because the movie business always claims to be in trouble anyhow).

Or maybe all of this will come crumbling down to a complete cessation of new TV shows. We'll ONLY be able to watch what has already been produced until now, and it will all be availble on DVDs. Endless reruns of "I Love Lucy", "Gilligan's Island" and "The Twilight Zone".

Which is exactly what everyone was complaining about in the 70's before the advent of the videotape. So we're back to square one.

~ Lazarus ~

I'm sure Hollywood will adapt, but right now it's hard to see how. It's expensive to produce TV shows and movies and they need to sell a lot of advertising and movie tickets to make their money back. If they start losing too much money before some alternate delivery system is perfected, what will happen? Will television be nothing but sports and live events? Sure there are other ways of making money with dramatic series such as selling DVDs, merchandising and so on, but the big bucks still come from traditional distribution models.

You often hear the argument that giving away things like ebooks and TV shows online will boost sales of their offline equivalents. I think that's only true while the digital equivalents are still relatively difficult to obtain and consume. For those with a bit of savvy, it's relatively simple to download a TV show, but it's still infinitely more complicated than turning on a TV set and changing the channel with a remote control. As it becomes easy enough for Aunt Matilda to get at pirated media, it will become increasingly difficult to get people to pay for something they can get for free.

Lazarus said that maybe it's the end of TV series and we'll be stuck watching old stuff. That wouldn't bother me since I've only ever seen a fraction of what's been produced. If I were to stop buying books or downloading TV series and movies today, I'd probably have enough to keep me occupied for several years.

Whatever happens, it's going to be an interesting time.

Capt. Xerox