Television

Since television first started has it got better or worse?

In the beginning it was 405 lines and black and white, programs were limited in both content and times to operate. Well until advertising took over and then when the money arrived from the “sponsors” it got really exciting. More channels were born but did the content improve?

Perhaps the next biggest change was the introduction of colour and a market in changing TV’s arrived, that’s to say if you had just bought a new television with 405 lines and it was only black and white reception you missed out on the colour programs which needed 625 lines.

The next big change was the introduction of satellite TV and the number of channels available moved into double figures and the programs were presented for twenty four hours, seven days a week.

But did the quality of programs improve?

Upgrades to the television out- put are now plasma, digital and 3D.

What next?

One of the best inventions are the programs to cut out the adverts, most of these are not popular but when commercials are shown at nine minute intervals it’s hard to remain focussed on the program content.

You can get the same effect by recording programs and fast forwarding through the commercials, the advertisers do not approve of this as they, and quite rightly have paid for the programs on your behalf and they demand you watch them.

A new innovation is the view on demand where you can download programs via the internet and then watch them, but there are still adverts attached and you also need a very fast broadband connection which you will find will be expensive when you see how many kbs you have used up for the month.

Another new way of watching television programs is on your mobile phone, which I have presumed most of the planet’s population has access to, but again just check how much you have to pay for the privilege to look at a postage stamp picture when you have a wall sized television screen in your home.