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Why didn't Televisions evolve to be interactive with their audience as the Internet was developed?


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2023 Mar 27, 4:05pm   430 views  14 comments

by Tenpoundbass   ➕follow (7)   💰tip   ignore  

I can't help but think, had the Television makers and Networks been more forward thinking, and made television interactive for advertising, buying and customizing content.
Then the web browser based content might have remained more civil and small community minded. Internet computer users would have clung to their anonymity if those chose, and their 1st amendment on their stances and believes if they were public. Perhaps personal Web space for HTML pages would still be the norm, that you got with your ISP provider..

In '97 I really envisioned the Television doing everything that Youtube is doing now, only natively in the televisions. The network and tv stations would be huge data collectors, and advertisement spots could realize instant revenue by the Television audience pushing to button or remote to buy a product. Make no mistake the internet is being incorporated into Televisions, but for more nefarious reasons like surveillance and providing the same crap that is hosted on Youtube anyway.




Samsung has the best Phone and Tablet cameras, and they make TVs too.
In America, you don't watch TV; TV watches You!

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1   Tenpoundbass   2023 Mar 27, 4:06pm  

I think the iPhone beat the Television to the punch for the people who either didn't want to be bound to a PC or thought it was too complicated and techy.
The phone became what the TV should have done, and made the TV all but obsolete.
2   Tenpoundbass   2023 Mar 27, 4:19pm  

It would have nipped the ecommerce in the bud, had The Home Shopping Network partnered with Sony that had a ethernet connection, that connected to your computer connected to the internet, a modem or router. That captured time codes to know when an advertisement was running. To match up with the order sent over the internet after the user filled out the form using their remote or keyboard. I'm describing OTA analog TV to internet here not digtial video. If I recall correctly Microsoft tried to make something called Web TV, but really all it was just a hardware html browser, with a proprietary AOL type deal going on, that was clunky and cumbersome. And didn't bridge Television content and the Internet at all.
Networks could have then produced Dungeon and Dragons type shows, where the viewer gets to chose the path the antagonist takes.
Probably the CIA really knew what and where the internet was going and the huge resource it would for them. The interactive television I'm describing isn't as centralized as the internet turned out to be.
Even the Sony TV a Google collaboration didn't take off. Even though still to this day it was the coolest TV I ever owned. It was the first Android based TV box or tv set based. It was before all of those RUKU Android knockoffs. I don't think it was before RUKU and RUKU isn't Android base.
TV internet boxes has been encouraged but it seems every internet TV is treated like it's an abomination of God, and must be destroyed. It really seems intention to try to stop something that would be what TV was always meant to be.
3   HeadSet   2023 Mar 27, 5:06pm  

The new broadcast standard ATSC 3 allows for interactive TV.
4   Tenpoundbass   2023 Mar 27, 5:20pm  

HeadSet says

The new broadcast standard ATSC 3 allows for interactive TV.


I think it's too late now. Interactive TV would pick up where Google left off.

I think if the TV served the commercial content niche in the internet then the Computer would have been left to do computer stuff. YouTube would be a bunch of Cat videos today.
The so called content creators, would all be having their content broadcasted on local channels. Like Public Access television on steroids. I think hard and fast decency rules could have been established, and the big tech companies wouldn't be shielded like they are now.

We were so focused on keeping the internet free and open, we didn't see that it became anything but.
5   richwicks   2023 Mar 27, 5:24pm  

You just don't understand what a TV is. It's a propaganda box. It's not something to entertain you and certainly doesn't exist to inform you. It's there to control you.

Name a TV show that teaches you anything. People are starving for information. So what does the Discovery Channel air?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids:_The_Body_Found

FUCK TV.

They aren't interested in changing and they don't make money selling tampons, deodorant, and hair products. TV is just fucking evil. Glad it's dead.

But now, they are trying to turn the internet into television..
6   richwicks   2023 Mar 27, 5:27pm  

Tenpoundbass says

We were so focused on keeping the internet free and open, we didn't see that it became anything but.


The "internet" isn't Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The internet is open, those sites are not.
7   HeadSet   2023 Mar 27, 5:32pm  

richwicks says

You just don't understand what a TV is. It's a propaganda box.

That is true as far as news goes, but not for regular programming. Comedies and dramas have to be entertaining, or no one would watch, and these eyes on the programs is how the broadcasters sell ads. Nobody claims TV is for teaching, even though a few educational programs exist. TV is just a more convenient play or sports contest.
8   richwicks   2023 Mar 27, 6:11pm  

HeadSet says


richwicks says


You just don't understand what a TV is. It's a propaganda box.

That is true as far as news goes, but not for regular programming.



It's subtle, so I'm going to point out some early examples. In Archie Bunker, he was the "dummy" and Michael "Meathead" was the smart progressive liberal. When confronted with something "new" at the time, Archie ALWAYS backed down in the end. One of his long time friends turned out to be gay, and Archie accepted this. Think this was in a later season?

Season 1, Episode 5: Judging Books by Covers - that was the year I was born 1971!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpknTbApEyI

OK, Maude had an episode where she got an abortion (1972!):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maude's_Dilemma

Gets it's own page. Row v. Wade was decided on January 22, 1973.

It's social propaganda. It tells you what you should think constantly.

Why do you think Tim Allen's last show got cancelled? Last Man Standing? It was a popular show, but it wasn't promoting the right propaganda or at least Tim Allen wasn't.

Television tells you what sort of social attitudes you should have, what is right and wrong, what sort of person is a "good" person and what sort is a "bad" person. It's all propaganda. It's all designed to control how you think. This is what MKUltra was REALLY about, not to make zombies that would assassinate people on command, it was a general program to control the entire population and it's been going on since before the television was invented. It started out in film and radio.

You find any film and tv show, where the "bad guy" is an FBI agent, or a cop, or something like that. Hardly ever happens. It HAS happened before, but decades and decades ago. What do you think Top Gun was BTW? That was a recruitment ad for the air force. How many anti-war films are there? Everything is propaganda. You surprised that so many FIB fucks are in Twitter? They run the "entertainment" industry. Why do you think we have all these shows people whine and moan about being too "woke", how do they stay on the air? People hate them, many people just watch reviews of people complaining about how bad these shows are - yet they continue to be produced...

Our government has a DIRECT hand in the entertainment industry.

Here's something to think about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOQbCTCB5-A

If that was recording in 1985, it would have been cut, and Dylan would have a talking to. "Don't ham it up, fag - we know you want to get into entertainment, but we can cancel the whole show. This is embarrassing", something like that.
9   HeadSet   2023 Mar 27, 6:15pm  

richwicks says

What do you think Top Gun was BTW? That was a recruitment ad for the air force.

That would be Navy. Please do not lump AF in with the squids.
10   richwicks   2023 Mar 27, 6:19pm  

HeadSet says

richwicks says


What do you think Top Gun was BTW? That was a recruitment ad for the air force.

That would be Navy. Please do not lump AF in with the squids.


Whatever, military. Sign up to do horrible shit, and have no idea why you are doing it, believe you're "serving" the nation. It's KEWL after all.

A fair amount of my family has been suckered into joining it, I keep my mouth shut around them, because I don't want to deconstruct their life and have them doubting the last 20 years of their existence. I've gone through that, but I did it to myself.
11   Someone_else   2023 Mar 27, 6:59pm  

Jeez o'pete you guys. The internet has all the below fixins' of TV. Below doesn't even suggest the many hows and whys of "hidden" messaging and biological affects using FREQUENCIES!

Rot your brain:

Watching TV is something virtually everyone does, but did you know that TV can actually be harmful to you? Television viewing can, for example, increase your risk of premature death, reduce your level of intelligence, completely obliterate your ability to concentrate and increase your risk of developing neurodegenerative brain disorders.
Researchers in Australia have concluded that watching television increases risk of death from heart disease, strokes and even cancer. Every hour spent watching television each day increases the risk of dying from heart disease by almost a fifth, say scientists. Studies found that people who sat in front of the box for more than four hours a day were 80% more likely to die for reasons linked to heart and artery disease.

While we know a sedentary lifestyle can be dangerous to our health, few studies have examined the effects of what watching too much TV can do to our brains. Research carried out over 25 years by California’s Institute for Research and Education has recently shown the dangers of television for our neurons, even in those who exercise regularly.
The participants were divided into two groups according to their television habits: frequent viewers (more than 3 hours of television per day) and moderate viewers (less than 3 hours per day). Their cognitive function was evaluated using the DSST (Digit Symbol Substitution Test), Stroop test, and RAVLT (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test).
The results showed that the most frequent viewers over the 25 years (10.9%) were more likely to perform poorly on the cognitive tests. Secondly, the participants with low physical activity (16.3%) performed poorly on the DSST. Thirdly, when compared to moderate viewers engaging in regular physical activity, frequent viewers who exercised little were nearly twice as likely to perform poorly on cognitive tests. Too much television and a lack of physical activity represent independent factors linked to a decline in cognitive brain performance.

And the worst news: Exercise can’t compensate for the harmful effects of too many hours spent watching television. If you’re athletic, you are undoubtedly maintaining your cognitive abilities better than sedentary individuals, but if you also watch television for more than three hours per day, it is likely to have negative consequences on your intellectual activity.

Television reduces your ability to think critically. When you watch TV, brain activity switches from the left side of your brain (responsible for logical thought and critical analysis) to the right side. This is significant because the right side of the brain tends not to analyze incoming information. Instead, it uses an emotional response which results in little or no analysis of the information. In other words, this is like someone telling you something and you believing what they say without doing your own research.
12   PeopleUnited   2023 Mar 27, 8:55pm  

why-didn-t-televisions-evolve-to-be...

Because TV is old media. The guys who run TV are not Steve Jobs, they are old school guys like Ted Turner who could not envision a world where computers integrate with TV anymore than Alexander Graham Bell could envision the IPhone.

Besides that most middle class people subscribe to cable, direct TV, dish or streaming services if they want TV or sports so that was how TV evolved. There was no need for YouTube on your TV (but for the record you’ve been able to use your TV for YouTube videos for at least 15 years via WiFi or Ethernet)

So we have phones, computers and Tv’s that can all do about the same things, but since each has their own niche they get to sell you all three and then charge you for the services/subscriptions for all three!
13   Tenpoundbass   2023 Mar 28, 8:40am  

PeopleUnited says

Because TV is old media. The guys who run TV are not Steve Jobs, they are old school guys like Ted Turner who could not envision a world where computers integrate with TV anymore than Alexander Graham Bell could envision the IPhone.


Was if we stay at a 1997 time reference.

I'm not asking why didn't television become YouTube. I'm asking why didn't they get ahead of the ecommerce curve, by making television commercials interactive, where ROI could be realized in Realtime of airing commercials. The Phone in "Call Now" commercials were very prevalent at the time. The call centers could have been replaced with computers that captured user input from those TV set boxes. I think it would have kept ECommerce craze in check. The Amazons could not have competed with entrepreneurs advertising in various markets to reach new customers. People didn't want to call in to place an order, especially when you considered many adverts had a charge disclaimer for the phone call.

Even products like Kraft could have had consumers ordering a case of Mac and Cheese, Chevy commercials could have had test drive forms air in their adverts.

In the early 00's cable companies started the streaming old ass boring movies from the cable box. Again missing the mark on what they should have intergraded into their service.
Now I know I'm not preaching to choir when it comes to big business reaching the masses with an interactive TV with the focus on interactive advertisements.

But from their business perspective I think they were asleep at the wheel. As big as a failure up there with IBM having the PC OS in the palm of their hands, but letting Jobs and Gates go on to realize it's full potential.

This is a question out of curiosity, I'm not saying I wish that's how television was or is. Just why didn't they? I remember the talks that TV one day in the near future(At the time circa '97) would be interactive at the time AOL and WebTV were becoming household names.
14   Tenpoundbass   2023 Mar 28, 8:43am  

Someone_else says

Television reduces your ability to think critically.


I think the internet took that championship title away from the TV.

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