The Broadband Revolution

For my entire life, I never had cable or high speed internet. I understood the concept, but there were other things to do. If it were possible at my old house, I probably would've gotten high speed, but it wasn't, so I chugged on.

When I moved out and went to University, I didn't have anything better to do. I'd sit around on the high speed internet for days, checking out content, watching videos and generally consuming as much of the "internet" as I could get. When I left school for the summer, I went back to dial up, and let me tell you ... it wasn't pretty.

In our apartment right now we have Rogers Cable and internet. Aside from being completely anti-social I could easily spend the entire night on the internet, viewing content. My computer is isolated from the rest of the world, so if I never want to see my roomate, watching tv in my room as it streams over the internet would be fine.

The shows that I watch regularly are all available online, with all this crazy added content. If you check out the network site they are all pushing their own secret agenda... trying to get me started on other shows like the New 90210. Yeah.... right.

All this added content is nice, I guess. When I was a teenager I would have LOVED to read about the lives of celebrities as they pretend to be people they aren't. As I grow older, that stuff seems not to matter. With some movies it's nice to know how it was done, like the Dark Knight? Always interested in extra content.

Having intermittent access to a PVR is fun. After awhile, I become saturated by commercials, and I just can't take it anymore, so I fast forward through all the clutter and watch what I want. What's funny about the PVR lifestyle though is that you start to miss it. Whenever my significant other comes around he will specifically watch for commercials because he literally hasn't seen ANY of them. Normally he'd skip right over them, but at my place, he has no choice. I've never seen a more devoted viewer when it comes to commercials. So that's the question isn't it? Are PVR's making it impossible to reach people? Or are they just REALLY attentive when they are watching.

I would take 1 ounce of attention over 1 pound of saturation. I don't want annoyed consumers, I want them to want me.