In 2006 Conan O’Brien was on Charlie Rose and made a comment to the effect of being in “The Golden Age of TV”.  I’ve heard several people in the last few years mention this Golden Age of Television – the idea that  with high competition from a multitude of cable/satellite channels and saturation of the internet, networks are being forced to break out of the mold.  It makes sense, right?

I watch a lot of television, and I think we are in yet another Golden Age of Television*.  However, this might be the last Golden Age of Television on the actual television. And by that I mean the next wave of great episodic, small screen, short format, motion pictures (my new definition of TV Shows**) will be all digital and delivered in a variety of avenues, not just on your TV set.

The networks (finally) realize this, so they’re pushing out the best content in years to keep you tuned in, but I think this latest Golden Age of Television is helping accelerate the migration.  The shows are so good and so discussed – both online and off – that normal viewers are changing their behavior to consume them.  Now, admittedly, I’m not a normal viewer, but I do use several of the outlets that are becoming more commonplace.  I have Tivo, ReplayTV, and Apple TV.  I also “Slingbox” from a DirectTV/DVR and watch YouTube on my iPhone (or Wii ) when I’m bored.  But most recent - and now my most popular choice - is watching shows directly from network websites.

This last outlet is the one I want to discuss in more detail, because I believe it’s the future, and possibly the only place networks will be able to run when TV as we know it goes away.  Now, I mentioned watching shows online as being a recent thing, but it isn’t really for me or anyone else, I just mean that it’s finally a viable option.  Basically, all the other things I mentioned, from Tivo to Apple TV, are crutches, hybrids, mere toys that are helping me along until the inter-web catches up.  It’s close now with the quality of video players that are showing up on network sites and the increase in bandwidth to homes across the land.  At this point we’re only lacking a way to easily put these sites up on our current TVs; my Apple TV*** and Wii get me close but not quite there (and that’s a whole article in itself).

So why are network (and other online) video players the future?  It’s the ability to control content and display sophisticated advertising, as well as other benefits like tracking, ease-of-use, social networking, and instant gratification which the web provides.  On-demand content through cable/satellite providers come close, but lack some of these aspects.  And by the time they catch up, the game will have changed again.

Back to networks. Through my online video player, not only can I serve up specifc episodes instantly, I can incorporate ranking and recommendations from the community, promote other content properties that I own, and pull in complentary content (games, wikis,etc…) that reinforce the brand.

Example: I can watch Burn Notice on USA and sit through all the commercials (12 - 16 minutes worth), I could watch it on AppleTV for $1.99 through iTunes, or I could watch it on usanetwork.com (1 - 3 minutes of commercials, never more than 30 seconds per break).  Even if I Tivo’d Burn Notice (which I do on occasion) assuming I remembered or had it scheduled, I still have to fast forward through 8 or so commercial breaks, which typically equates to more time fast forwarding than the 3 minutes online.  When I do end up watching on USA’s site, I’m served up ads that I usually don’t mind watching because they’re more targeted.  I also get links to a Burn Notice game, Burn Notice character profiles, and I get to see a funny clip for Monk (which I might start watching now).

I’ll touch more on this in the days to come; I’d really like to look at what networks are doing right and doing wrong in the way they broadcast their content on the web.  For now, I would love any comments you have, especially video players and sites you’ve visited.  If nothing else, go watch something: NBC, USA, TBS, ABC.

*All you TV historians will probably classify this as the “Third: Golden Age of Television”.
**Give me some slack, it’s a work in progress. I probably need to take out “small screen” once my new contacts make it irrelevant.
*** If I could bring myself to hack my Apple TV I think I would have the technology part of this equation solved, but I don’t want to risk it and it’s not easy for the average user.