This is not ‘Nam; There are Rules
When I introduced No More TV and the premise behind giving up broadcast television for a year, using instead only content delivered over the Internet, I realized I forgot to lay down the rules. So, without further ado, here they are:
- No broadcast television
- No cable television
- No sattelite/dish television
- No TV tuner cards in a PC
- The TV may be used as long as what is being viewed is not delivered by either of the above methods (for example, watching a DVD is permissible)
- This applies for everything: TV shows, news, election results/coverage, sporting events, etc.
Other than that, everything is fair game. Once a rule is a rule (i.e. it appears on this page), it remains a rule for the duration of the experiment. Additional rules may be added at a later date.
The Legal Question
There is one aspect of the No More TV experiment that I’m struggling with: illegal content. I’m not sure what to do in this situation, and I’m looking for advice. On the one hand, I want this to be as true-to-life an experiment as possible, and in the real world, if you can’t get your favorite shows online, you download them over BitTorrent (or get them in some other illegal fashion). On the other hand, I want this to be an exploration of what the current state of the industry is, and falling back on illegal content doesn’t really focus on that. I think that for now, I’m going to say that illegal/unauthorized content is off-limits; I will, however, continue to point out that content companies that don’t make their content available online put themselves at risk of their audiences doing it for them, and losing out.
Now for the fun part. If these rules are ever broken, I’ll submit myself for some kind of punishment. We’ll get to that when/if it happens (stay tuned around the time of the season premieres of Lost or Battlestar Galactica).
Is anything missing? Let me know!
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Jacki 10.08.08 at 9:24 am
I agree - legal content only.
One question about the rules: can you watch TV at other people’s houses? Like if a friend threw a Lost premiere party?
Greg 10.08.08 at 9:28 am
Good question; I think not. One of the things I’d like to test/experience is the differences in the social experiences of watching TV online. I’m pretty sure I could handle watching everything online, even if it meant not watching on a big screen; I’m not sure I can deal with not being able to watch shows with Penny or friends, or the Super Bowl, etc. I think that social quality is one aspect of broadcast/cable TV that beats the online experience. Of course, if I could hook my computer up to my TV…;)
Penny 10.08.08 at 9:43 am
Lost is going to be hard. Very hard.
And can we still go to the super bowl party but not watch?!?
Adam 10.08.08 at 3:23 pm
Good luck with this, I am very interested in seeing the final outcome!
- Lets say you are in a public place, such as an airport, and there are several TVs showing the news or something… Will you watch what they are showing or will you try to refrain from watching all cable/satellite/etc. TV?
Greg 10.17.08 at 2:57 pm
Hey Adam! I think that as long as I don’t specifically go to the public place to watch TV, it’s OK. If I’m in an airport and there is a TV with the news on, that’s OK; if I go to a bar to watch the World Series, that’s not OK.
Greg 10.17.08 at 2:58 pm
As for the Super Bowl…I’m working on an all-online Super Bowl party.
andrea 10.28.08 at 11:49 am
as the most likely host for this year’s super bowl party, i am wondering how we will do it all on line! you know we can’t put my 32 inch flat screen to waste on such an important day!! keep me posted!
lamapper 11.01.08 at 3:35 pm
Interesting website and even better idea. I know that my biggest personal time waster is broadcast TV. I have an HDTV with an UHF Antenna, yes it works fine, for local broadcasts and watch a few other shows via the internet. Though I am concerned about my future due to bandwidth limits (as low as 5GB to as high as 250 GB per month) being adopted by many ISPs.
While I don’t currently use BitTorrent, I can see a need for it in my future. Of course for legal content and there is much legal content available via BitTorrent. Thus the reason for leaving you this post. Too many people are giving BitTorrent a bad rap, suggesting that it is ONLY used for illegal content which is NOT TRUE.
Some cable companies are starting to ignore net neutrality and use the few people that abuse a technology (get illegal content) as a justification for selectively censoring what a subscriber can or can not see. They started with bandwidth throttling a subscriber when their detection tools detected a BitTorrent type of TCP/IP traffic, slowing down their subscriber and limiting the bandwidth to / from that same customer.
Fortunately the FCC intervened and told the cable companies to stop. However the fight is NOT over, the cable companies are appealing the ruling.
For the sake of Net Neutrality, please do NOT perpetuate the Myth: That BitTorrent is only used for illegal activities; this is not 100% true.
Sadly while this tool is misused by some, it is NOT misused by ALL! For more information, see Save the Internet!
There is quite a bit of evidence that the real issue is not net neutrality, that net neutrality is a smoke screen or red herring. I will let you decide that…
Greg 11.05.08 at 8:13 am
lamapper: thanks for reading! Excellent point about BitTorrent, there is nothing inherently illegal in BitTorrent. It is, however, very commonly used to distribute pirated and copyrighted material. I can think of only one time that I’ve used it legally. Certainly in the context of watching television online, BitTorrent would almost certainly be illegal.
The whole issue of Net Neutrality is a serious one, and your links are excellent pointers for anyone interested in learning about it. Anyone who wants to see the Internet continue to thrive and grow should support Net Neutrality!
Elysia Mancini Duerr Esq. 01.07.09 at 2:13 am
With my own TV ban will still watch TV in other people’s homes if the purpose is social gathering (Ie: a superbowl party or weekly LOST viewing). The reason for this exception for me is I think the mindlessness of turning on a TV is negated by the effort to plan and watch TV with others. I know my plan is different from yours, however. . .