Cable can no longer justify its existence and I am getting rid of it. Literally.

I did it. Finally.

I called my cable company and told them that I would pay them $65 for their TV service no longer.

Of course, they will always have me as a customer for high-speed internet. That’s a given, though, much like the certainty that I will be needing water, air, nutrition, and a slew of some of the better addictions life has to offer. Premium channels, DVR, movies on demand, “Californication” in HD… these are all things that are suddenly replaceable in my life.

And it couldn’t be any clearer to me that I am hardly ahead of the curve.

You can thank my generation – the 20-somethings – for much of the shift in media and communications we’ve seen in the past few years. Not because we are building the devices and platforms, dreaming up new communication tools or making decisions for big media organizations. Because we’re not doing any of that. We are the users. We are the early adapters and the countless masses maxing out our credit cards on iPhones, music downloads, Netflix subscriptions, and $1.99 episodes of “Lost” on iTunes. And we’re also the reason that Google and Facebook are now two of the largest (and yet untapped) media companies in the universe. Simply said, that’s where our eyes are.

I know an overwhelming amount of Gen Y’ers who have written off television altogether. The natural progression of this begins with the college dorm experience where one typically has a laptop, a free T1 connection, and little else. I lived this during my time at NYU, albeit at a moment in internet evolution that offered no available interactive content except the opportunity to download bootlegged episodes of “Mr. Show” or “The Simpsons.” So I came out of college understanding that a complex infrastructure would be necessary to facilitate the VERY needed growth of the internet as an entertainment delivery platform. It was no surprise, then, that my path led me directly to helping build the mental infrastructure needed to deliver what it was I wanted to see on the internet: free, original content of all varieties.

As much as we like to think so — we are not there yet. Not even close.

That growing mass of people I know who rely on their laptop as the new complete entertainment experience, they’re not watching high-quality content presented to them in a singular, versatile, evolution-of-television-like format. They’re depending entirely on YouTube. They’re watching comedy sketches, music videos, your typical kicked in the nuts video, and pretty much anything with cleavage in the thumbnail.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of YouTube. The platform has changed content delivery forever. But that can’t mask the exceptionally poor video quality (at a time of HD proliferation no less), and a general inability to find not what you’re looking for, but what you’re looking to find. YouTube is like the wikipedia of video in that sense. I can search for and easily find how to remove an iPhone sim card, Janet Jackson’s infamous wardrobe malfunction, or one of my favorite moments from “Seinfeld.”

If I can find nearly anything on YouTube, then what’s missing?

We need a simple place to discover the content we may or may not be aware exists. Even without a sustainable distribution outlet, there is already a plethora of highly-watchable content amassing on the internet. I know this because I’ve spent the past two years making an episode of it every day. But the growing audiences and advertising dollars and broadcast opportunities simply aren’t connecting with this great new content. It takes work to make this stuff — anyone who thinks that internet video is as easy to create as getting your hands on a Handycam and finding someone willing to get kicked in the nuts is exceptionally misguided.

It’s reasonable to estimate that at least $100 million will be spent creating internet video in 2008. And that doesn’t include the big 5 broadcast networks. So where is it all going, and how is it going to connect with its audience and distribution?

Not by keeping it proprietary on hulu.com or funnyordie.com, that’s for sure.

So I’ve decided to cancel my cable. “The Wire” is over, and “Lost” is now available online in streaming HD. Netflix brings me every TV show I could possibly want (and streaming soon, if not already). So what if I have to go to a bar to watch sports in HD? I should probably get out of the apartment anyway. The only way anyone is going to build the necessary infrastructure to make internet television accessible and sustainable is to live it.

That, and I simply can’t justify spending $800/year for something that is, and will always be, free to all.

I look forward to helping you reach this conclusion as well.

~ by plentitube on March 17, 2008.