Embed Notice

The move of the Oscars to Google's YouTube carries a message that nearly everyone is missing:

Broadcast TV is dying.

This is OK (except that our point-to-point model of media dissemination on the Internet is far from efficient as compared to broadcast radio/TV.)

Note that the right wing in the US has been busy trying to buy up broadcast assets - both radio (AM mostly, but some FM) and TV.

That's like making an investment now in wagon wheel and buggy whips.

The switch to ATSC 3.0 will slowly obsolete many of the TV's that are presently in service. And my guess is that those who watch broadcast TV (and radio) these days tend to be people who will be the last to switch to the new technology, if at all.

In other words, the move of the Oscars to Youtube suggests that the right-wing investment in broadcast media is only of short term value.

(Personally I'd like to see good broadcast tech - for efficiency - and return to home DVRs.)