September 12, 2007
'Appointment' TV on the Web?
The Internet was supposed to let you watch what you wanted, when you wanted. So why is one company trying to schedule your computer time? [via CNN]
"As most television executives will tell you, other than for the Super Bowl, gone are the days when the family gathers 'round the television at 8 p.m. on the dot to watch their favorite weeknight sitcom. ... Americans have eschewed "appointment" television, opting instead to use technologies such as TiVo to record their favorite programs and watch them (skipping the advertising) at their convenience.
And the Internet only fuels the trend, sometimes called "time shifting." ABC network, for example, makes available online full-length episodes of more than a dozen shows, including hits such as "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy." Ditto CBS, News Corp.'s FOX and NBC. And before it ran afoul of some content companies such as Viacom, Google's YouTube was a reliable source for finding the best television content you forgot to tape the night before.
A little company called Paltalk, which specializes in technology for video chat rooms, is bucking the trend and repositioning itself as a purveyor of live online video content.
"We are going full-on, ass backward," Paltalk president Joel Smernoff declared in an interview. "We are the opposite of TiVo."
The reason Paltalk is pushing live programming, of course, is that it is trying to drive users to its chat technology. And so all its shows will let viewers interact with the hosts and guests using video and text chat services.
Paltalk isn't the only company integrating video programming and chat ... Joost, Babelgum."
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