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The On Demand Future of TV
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By host Tom Ashbrook:

There is a gusher of news from the world of television lately – and maybe the end, we’re told, of TV as we know it. The common theme is the collision of television and the Internet, and everything going “on demand.”

Haven’t had enough of “The Fugitive,” “Eight is Enough,” or “Welcome Back Cotter”? There is news today that Warner Brothers and AOL will put them all on line.

Last week, CBS and NBC announced 99-cent downloads, on demand, of prime-time fare: CSI, Law & Order and more. ABC is pushing “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” through i-Tunes. The electronic hearth of television is being shattered.

Hear about on demand and on your own, in TV-land.

Guests:

Tom Lowry, Senior Media Writer at Business Week, co-author of the article “The End of TV (As You Know It)” in the current issue of Business Week.;
Aaron Barnhart, Television Critic for the Kansas City Star

Jim Nail, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, co-author of a new report arguing that the “TV Schedule will soon be as irrelevant as last night’s news.”;
Steven Johnson, author of “Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.”;
Bob Thompson, Director of the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.

 
 

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