the media mandala

I’ve been going to NAB for years now.  I started attending in 1998 just before my graduation to start networking as a junior artist.  Much has advanced over the years, especially eliminating the need to bus between the Sands and the unexpanded LVCC.  For many years NAB has been the place to attend for Broadcasting.   You can spend four days and still not see everything, something I don’t recommend.  I swear I’m an inch shorter after two days and have never been into sensory overload on slot machines.  Regardless, I have usually taken something away that was interesting.  Although NAB will continue to serve the broadcast medium for years to come, I found myself disappointed with the convention speaker engagements last year.  There was a clear disregard and lack of recognition in new media including podcast and streaming media.  I was baffled by the ridiculous display of egotism by a NAB lawyer during a keynote presented by Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian.  After years of never having to fight for technology dominance in media delivery (i.e. a viewing screen), now more than ever, broadcasters are losing viewers that are turning to laptops and cell phones for content.  NAB should be using their clout, while they still have it, to position themselves as the door front to the revolution that is happening now.  Think about it this way, which came first: the Apple, or the AppleTV?  I find myself disappointed about today’s announcements that the focus, once again, will be about DTV.  Last time I checked, I have two HDTVs in my house, one that I’ve had for five years.  I just can’t seem to justify flying out to NAB this year as much as I would like.  The senior members of NAB should be working endlessly on positioning the television as the center piece of the living room for the foreseeable future.  The committee should be harvesting the current, unconventional media platforms.  Why?  Advertising funds every show produced.  As consumer interest continues to grow rapidly into new media, there may come a time when the balance shifts to a computer.    Consumers are using computers today to surf the internet, play games, send email, video chat, view family photos and video, watch youtube and get news from around the world - oh yeah, and they can even view OTA and unencrypted QAM stuff too (with the proper equipment).  Television, by itself as most people use it provides cable, OTA and satellite programming.  So where is the future going?  Will the future of the living room look like today’s current setup of a computer table and television or will the TV get the boot?  What will happen when consumers realize they are enjoying their favorite youtube and podcasts more than the television?  NAB appears to bloster that the future will be HD.  HD is already here.  The future is appears to be more about convergence.  I see nothing in today’s press release that positions NAB as the leader of innovation, a role it has had in the past.  I believe that standards are necessary for obvious reasons, so long as they don’t cloud one’s openness to new ideas.  It was the idea that life could be transmitted and projected onto phosphors, beyond the radio standard, in the first place that created the industry as it is today.  That same openness allowed color frequency to be piggybacked onto the B&W signal so people could watch MASH and Johnny in technicolor.   No one knows the future.  Here’s what I do know:  Growing up, we bought a B&W television on the dinner table to watch our favorite show at dinner.  Eventually, our habits changed as we started using T.V. trays to watch our color television in the living room.  Will the computer desk become the next T.V. tray in a unforeseen form?  Of course for most NAB members, they can write always off as the future, just like some of them did with HD.