The Wire was the best TV show I've ever seen. But it is over, and now we have only reruns to enjoy it.

Here is little something to make you remember this amazing show. One of my favorites is around 8:40. NSFW (language), mind you...

Related articles by Zemanta

• Postmortem Portraits of The Wire by Blake Hicks (laughingsquid.com)
• Dominic West Update: Arresting role for Wire star Dominic West (shabooty.com)
• Five classic scenes from The Wire (pastemagazine.com)

Mark Cuban wrote a thought provoking post about content and platforms:

...One thing is becoming increasingly clear, while more people are "snacking on Internet video", the real "meal" continues to be TV....Events look great on HDTVs, whether they are sports, shows or movies. Quick hits and short clips are great for the internet. Sure some people will watch shows that perform better on other platforms on the net. We all use what we have available when its our only choice. Which is why so much video consumption online is in the office. Its our only choice. Replays and breaking news and anything that helps us kill time are what we will use our MIDS, PDAs, and phones for.

The platform is the message from viewers to content providers.

Reading his post made me think about the basics.

TV or TV Set?

In the past, TV and TV set were the same thing. You couldn't watch TV shows, unless you had a TV set. TV sets where connected to a broadcaster which in turn provided content to TV sets.

Today the situation is different - you can buy TV shows in iTunes, or watch them online. Therefore, TV, at least for me, is a creative definition. The Wire is great TV. Olympics is a great TV event. But I can watch these events and shows on different devices - computers, HDTV sets, iPods, etc.

TV set is still the best way to watch long form content. It is the closest thing to movie theater you can get. Events, movies and high end shows will always look better on that set.

Internet - Distribution or Format?

The internet changed its form over the years. It is true that internet videos are short - as users tend to view them in short breaks in work, and due to the form factor (small screens). But when I connect my laptop to my TV - there is no difference in the experience . Therefore there shouldn't be any difference in the format. And when online video becomes another part of the EPG, who cares where did the content come from? When AppleTV can deliver both high end movies and low budget indie flicks directly to your TV through the Internet - what is the platform? Is it TV or Internet?

The Missing Link

Like in every vision, the missing link is a business model. In my opinion, if online distribution and monetization would have been profitable enough, we would have seen more direct to internet TV quality shows. As long as the average online video CPM is 12$, nothing will change the current level of Internet originated productions. But I am positive that things will change as ad dollars are going online.

What's your opinion?

Is TV dying, or is it just a hype?

Last Friday I attended disrupTV, an "un-conference" for media technologies that I helped organizing. The event was organized by Nir Ofir and Rafael Mizrahi, hosted by Yossi Vardi and Jeff Pulver, and was the first "un-conference" on this topic in Israel.

In one of the presentations a question was raised - what should change in TV today? The usual statements about death of TV where told.

I had an unpopular opinion: nothing is wrong with TV, please don't touch it.

What is Televison?

TV, in its purist meaning won't change. TV is a winning format. Good stories told in 22, 45 or 60 minutes slots is a great invention. Especially when channels realize the power of story again, and let masterpieces such as "The Wire" go on air.

And you know what? The last thing I want is an interactive experience while watching high quality shows. I don't want to buy the bottle of wine people are drinking on screen. I just want to be entertained. So please, don't touch my TV

The TV set

The TV set is a different story. Yes, the TV set will change. Eventually it is just a screen. I am certain the new capabilities will be introduced into the TV SET, as a device. Most of them will fail, as companies will face UI issues again and again. However, smart TV sets and appliances, such as AppleTV, has a disruptive nature that is much more profound than adding interactivity to shows. AppleTV, iTunes, and competing services are breaking the value chain of the TV industry. This is the real issue.

Changes will happen

AppleTV and iTunes enable users to buy content directly from the producers. This is a major shift in power, as channels are no longer the sole distribution method of TV content. I will drill down to this issue in my next post.

Where is the money?

There are 3 main domains that will continue to change the market, and could provide financial gain to the ones who would master them:

1. On demand experience - when programming losing force, and consumers are moving toward personal viewership experience, on demand platforms will role the media world in years to come.

2. Content Discovery - following the previous point, content discovery, the ability to find the right content for the viewer, becomes an increasingly important need. Programing is a very primitive content discovery method - we know your demographics so we will push you the right content. As mentioned before, this method is losing ground. New technologies should solve this issue in a better way.

3. Commuinty - Vardi stated that there is a missing link in the community aspects of media consumption. Programming enabled people to gather in a specific point in time and share an experience. On demand viewership killed this aspect. He believes that there is here a potential for new players.

A word for TV executives

Time will tell how TV will change. But please, please, keep producing high quality drama, funny shows and great content. Changes will come, but one thing never changes - there is always audience for great content...