Our household is getting rid of the telly this week. I bought it maybe 10 years ago (so its worthless) and if anything it has just become a thing to turn on in the vague hope that there might be something interesting on at 11 pm. There rarely is.
We spend close to €600 a year on cable and license fees. A ridiculous figure. So, with this in mind we’ve decided to get a large screen iMac to replace the TV. Through this we will use the various players (to watch TV programmes of our choice), play music and watch films (DVDs or legal video downloads from iTunes).
It will be a fully functional home entertainment system with web access. And all we have to pay is the monthly broadband charge (which I am working on to reduce to about €30 a month).
Our decision to abandon the traditional telly in favour of a web-led entertainment system comes the same week Google announced Google TV – an “interactive platform that collapses the wall between TV and internet in the living room”.
Google TV will launch in the US in Autumn. Sony, Logitech and Intel have created the hardware. Google is eyeing the potential to make billions more as it seeks to attract TV ad revenues from its already established list of blue chip clients.
Google TV could also be a boon for the ad industry as new interactive ad formats will be needed. Google TV technical director Vincent Dureau said, “Every ad on TV has the potential to become interactive”. Interesting times.

You may also like: