DISQUS

David Mackey · 2 years ago

While I think internet entertainment is sticking around and will become a fifth network - its also still far from becoming all it can be. It takes much too much time surfing around to find interesting content and it is too short for the time invested in finding it.

Mike · 2 years ago

There are several hundreds of TV channels broadcasting on the internet. Some can be found here: http://www.chooseandwatch.com/

Chris Tew · 2 years ago

(I see Choose and Watch is still spamming everyone)

That aside - the problem with the internet being a TV network is aggregation and lack of passive watching. When you watch TV it's passive - you sit back and watch using a remote - everything comes to you without much effort - there is a lot of effort involved in finding stuff to watch online.

European · 2 years ago

Number #5 ??
It is the number 1 already, you are only counting US network here.
Internet is intern...ational!!!

Regarding the "passive" comment:
u just need to learn how to use Favorite/Bookmarks, etc... u don't always have to search.

It is also true that you have a guide on your screen, and your effort to search what you are looking for is right there.

Mepf · 2 years ago

Well, it could be, if only the Internet wasn't people who have nothing to do watching people who can't do anything.

The rest of the country is older, grayer, and considerably uninterested in watching TV on the Internet. Advertisers know this, and spend money accordingly (at the networks). Watch the ad dollars. If they shift online in a huge way (once the Baby Boomers go blind in 20-30 years), the writing is on the wall for the networks.

"Television is a triumph of equipment over people, and the minds that control it are so small that you could put them in the navel of a flea and still have enough room for a network president's heart." - Fred Allen

Overeducated · 2 years ago

To classify the internet with the major networks is a stretch. Online everyone gets a voice and it is generally easy to discern their bias. Whereas the major networks are concerned, few get a voice and a lot of effort is spent to hide their bias. A truly important story will hit the web and take 3 days to clear the media's system of checks. These checks are not about truth, but rather the impact on advertisers. Then they will squeeze the story between the latest terror alert and Paris Hilton coverage. I for one welcome the demise of our info overlords.

Nate · 2 years ago

Very true article, I can even watch live tv broadcast at http://www.channelking.com

crypto · 2 years ago

How can you possibly talk about the internet being the 5th network without mentioning Revision3 who happens to produce the most popular podcast (diggnation) and offers some of the finest content (iFanboy, TRS, The GigaOM Show, iFanboy) in cyberspace?

Scott · 2 years ago

The premise of your article makes no sense. The Internet is not a "5th TV network" is a distinct technology for distributing content. The world doesn't revolve around television.

fn · 2 years ago

the growing net of computers all connected to each other is simply next step of evolution in media, strange that some of you haven´t realized yet.
Unicast vs Multicast. everybody can speak up and if it´s interessting or right, everybody gets heard (thats what digg is also about ). I don´t watch tv anymore (except Sonntag: Tatort ;) but I have BT and black content streaming-sites and friends with hard drives full of content - I can select what I want, I am in control of my own input and I know where to get content and to get infos besides mainstream and often I am able to evaluate it, doing some quick recherche and maybe reading other perspectives - therefore I am my own Gatekeeper. (risk could be "kognitive dissonanz", that ppl don´t want to receive content contrarian oppinions, and just jumping over it. cause internet is activ and tv is passive)
the old media will have a hard time, believe me..
entropy ain´t stoping for anything - everything has it´s time - TV is mouldering since years: special interest TV-stations growing in numbers, high value productions in bigger stations declining. fortunatly theres no FOX in germany (but a paper like it: Bild) .. the ultimate potential of TV in manipulating nationwide opinions as it had in the 80ies is gone.
we are all individuals who have chosen to read some articles collective by others from us, being connected, listening and getting heard - skipping the institutions of intermediation, these interfaces for the powerfull behind curtains sometimes controlling oppions - those who selecting what to see, what gets to the news (see rupert murdoch press in UK) the crosslinking of our comuters which absorbed the most of the technical media (script, letters, tune in(? Radio), telephone, tv, cinema, newspapers, boards etc.) and the very combination of both will absorb more, will be taken up with

Glenn Abel · 2 years ago

I figure we’ve had a powerful fifth network for years: HBO, home of “The Sopranos” and a mob of other fine programming. HBO is the most respected brand in television. But if we’re ruling out pay cable and The CW (yes, let’s), this is a perfectly legitimate academic just-for-grins rhetorical question.

All things TV eventually will be distributed via the Internet or its successor anyway, but there you have a fun concept to debate over a couple of Red Bulls. What did we talk about before the Internet, anyway?

Yesadoodledo · 2 years ago

http://www.freetube.us.tc - free tv
http://www.joost.com - free videos
http://www.lonelygirl15.com - the seasons/saga/controversy of youtube
http://www.thelonelyisland.com - hilarious videos
http://www.myspace.com/videos/ - anything else

9ulk · 2 years ago

"Is the Internet the fifth major TV network?"

No, that would be Univisión.

Maria Marinaccio · 2 years ago

In my opinion, HBO is not the most respected brand in TV since they cancelled John from Cincinnati and left it's fans hanging.

morteza · 2 years ago

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