Going Where No TV Has Gone Before

Our universe is changing before my eyes and I heard the perfect analogy that sums up what I’m seeing but have been unable to effectively convey. We (at least those over 40) grew up in a solar system that consisted of one sun with nine planets. For this analogy the sun is effectively the Hollywood studios and the planets are the major network channels: ABC, NBC, and CBS with WGN being like Pluto (Hang with me) Who remembers watching Love Boat followed by Fantasy Island on Friday nights on NBC and then tuning in for Saturday morning cartoons? If you’re in your forties you probably do. The Andy Griffith Show and Buck Rogers may come to mind if you’re a tad bit older. For fifty years this was the only universe any of us knew.

In the last twenty years however we discovered another solar system here-to-referred to as cable television. It consisted of many more planets but still one sun – albeit a much bigger and brighter one.

However, in the last five years hundreds of new solar systems have been discovered; the ramification of which are just now starting to be seen. They each have their own sun and planets. Netflix, Hulu, YouTube with original programming and literally billions upon billions of videos, being discovered every month! Today, we are at the forefront of the Digital revolution. Everything is changing and it’s changing at light speed. Agreed?

Leave it to Beaver is long gone. It’s a bold new world out there today. My kids watch more YouTube videos then they do all of network and cable channels…combined! They aren’t alone even as they are though. It’s a rare experience for us all to be in the living room watching the same thing. Everyone has their own devices and they’re doing their own thing. The term of families doing this even has a phrase “the shared living room.” And more often than not when they are being entertained they’re probably “Binge Watching.” Entire seasons of shows are now devoured in a weekend while YouTube takes you down an endless black hole with every click.

It’s an alien world for anyone out of their teen years but it is the world we all live in today. You might love this, you might deplore it, but one thing’s for certain, the world we all live in has changed and it’s the Wild Wild West of outer space right now!

As a business owner and marketer at heart I’m doing all I can to keep up to speed with these changes. It’s a full time job and then some! It’s no wonder than that most people I talk with who grew up in a different solar system are having a hard time picturing what I’m talking about! Cable TV as we know it will go first. Cable TV has five years max before the cord is cut completely. Broadcast channels will fall next. This is unimaginable to everyone who tuned in at 6:00 p.m. to hear Tom Brokaw deliver the nightly news let alone Walter Cronkite! Today the “nightly news could be retitled” “The Minute News” because it’s delivered to our laptops, tablets and in particular our smart phones every minute of every day. People watch CNN on a device other than a TV by a margin of 3 to1!

The Aquascape Pond Squad will debut digitally next month. Season 1 debuted last fall on cable and ended six weeks later. It was like a comet shooting across the sky. If you missed it you can catch the re-runs 24 hours a day on YouTube. Or you can tune in for Aquascape Pond Squad every other week. We will be playing on your laptop, tablet, smart phone and of course even your living room TV too.

Eat your heart out Captain Kirk. The Aquascape Pond Squad has officially entered your time warp. The future is now.