Streaming: Movies, Media, and Instant Access

4. The Moving Platform

101 4 The Moving Platform As the web continues to expand, like the universe, into a maelstrom of almost inconceivable complexity, it’s important to remember that there is a life apart from virtual existence, a real world where we possess corporeal existence. We ignore this at our peril, and the risks of video game addiction or Facebook’s demands on our time come with an additional warning: too much time online can, in and of itself, be hazardous to our health. This is particularly true of watching television, no matter what the source of the content is. As Crystal Phend discovered: A couple of hours of daily TV watching can add up to substantial risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and death, according to a new review of past research. Every two hours per day spent in front of the television booted relative risk 20 percent for type 2 diabetes, 15 percent for cardiovascular disease, and 13 percent for all-cause mortality, Anders Grontved of the University of Southern Denmark in Odense and Dr. Frank B. Hu of Harvard School of Public Health found. Hu suggested that adults should limit themselves to no more than two hours per day. . . . TV watching isn’t just time taken away from less sedentary activities, Streaming 102 but also is often time spent eating or snacking and watching commercials for unhealthy foods, Hu [said, noting that] for [every] 100,000 individuals watching two hours per day over the course of one year, 176 would become diabetic, 28 would die from cardiovascular disease, [and] 104 would die from any cause. For those watching three or more hours a day of television, the “risk of early death rose even higher” (Phend). With Net- flix, Hulu, and other web content providers now streaming movies and television shows through the family TV set—often with commercials, as in the case of Hulu—the risks become substantial . And yet, as Nielsen reports, Netflix users are streaming more television than ever and fewer movies: The increase comes in the wake of Netflix not just inking partnerships to re-air programming, but also jumping feet first into production themselves, rolling out original content —like the 8 episode Lillehammer starring former Soprano sidekick Steven Van Zandt or the upcoming Orange Is the New Black, which is the first project from Weeds showrunner Jenji Kohan following the Showtime program’s run. . . . Conversely, subscribers mainly streaming movies dipped from 53 percent in 2011 to 47 percent in 2012. (“Survey: Netflix”) And as all those television sets find new programming via the web, more and more viewers are cutting the cable cord, which is exactly what Cox Cable and Time Warner Cable are afraid of, and it’s also why these companies and others encourage customers to bundle all their services into one package. The old sales pitch for a combined telephone, cable, and Internet pack- The Moving Platform 103 age stresses economy and convenience, but it also allows cable companies to monitor customers’ usage of the web and see exactly how much material they’re streaming versus viewing on traditional cable networks. In addition, it’s a temporary way to stop people from abandoning cable altogether—making it an “essential ” part of your home service package when, in reality, you could easily do without it. As Peter Svensson notes: People are canceling cable, or never signing up in the first place, because they’re watching cheap Internet video [so] viewers can expect more restrictions on online video, as TV companies and Hollywood studios try to make sure that they get paid for what they produce. . . . Ian Olgeirson at [research company] SNL Kagan . . . expects programmers to keep tightening access to shows and movies online. A few years ago, Olgeirson said, “they threw open the doors,” figuring they’d make money from ads accompanying online video besides traditional sources such as the fees they charge cable companies to carry their channels. But if it looks as if online video might endanger revenue from cable, which is still far larger, they’ll pull back. “Are they really going to jeopardize that? The answer is no,” Olgeirson said. Viewers aren’t the only ones abandoning cable. Larry King, a longtime veteran of CNN, quit his talk show Larry King Live after more than twenty years and moved to Ora TV, a project financed by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. King now stars...