I totally agree, I'm suggesting that the other end is where the revolution needs to happen. Currently all content is provided in a way that is absurd. The standard model is 'you will watch our playlist', instead of "we provide a good, themed playlist service but out of individually purchasable contents". I think that someone will finally do ala-carte, with a serious on-demand backing and things will change drastically. There is already a start here, with hulu et al being more popular than "experts" thought it would be.
This is where the NBC deal scares the living shit out of me. They own a lot of great content and with Comcast owning them, they could restrict how NBC shows are offered on the Internet. On the flip side, content owners will do well (if not better) with great content.
I think this process could also open the door for more niche producers. They won't need to make the network happy, they just need to provide good enough content to profit. It could help get rid of sadnesses like "the learning channel" from becoming TLC -- reality tv that sometimes has a sciencey or sociological twist. Some content may be lost/locked up in a dinosaur's grave for a while, but hopefully that will become moot.
Absolutely. It will allow for a democratic platform where good content will win and not be cut off due to the decisions of a few. Now with that said, America loves crappy content like Jersey Shore. So, I try not to look at it as "good content", but content that people want to watch.
I look at shows like Firefly -- any decent scifi really -- the masses aren't interested, people like me will only do on-demand (even if it is downloaded etc), and will buy merchandising. This can't work in most current network models. But in something like we are discussing, there is room for it be profitable -- maybe not insanely so -- but profitable nonetheless. This is why I think "good content" will flourish in such situations. People will still watch jersey shore, but people like me can get good content too.
An interesting thing has been going on lately anyway -- there are a lot more 12 episode seasons. And a lot more summer seasons. Content producers are starting to experiment. The syfy show Sanctuary started out as with a "pay for webisodes" model. Things are starting to move in interesting ways already.
My prediction: Joss Wheadon does a fully internet only show sometime in the next decade that is sci-fi. Dr horribles sing along shows he knows how to do this right.
