The future of TV? (pointless ruminating while driving mode)

Well, this is what happens every summer. Too much free time, too much reading (on and offline), too many good TV shows and the next thing you know, I'm driving back from my ex-home thinking about my favorite pastime, what if scenarios. The what if of today was:

- what if people stop watching traditional TV altogether?

Because, I'm not sure about what happens elsewhere, but here in Spain watching traditional TV means not only endless commercials but also *years* of delay with respect to US or UK broadcasts, jumping showtimes and, did I mention endless endless endllllllllesssss commercials. Me, I'm about to give up. Fast forward a few years later, and if media companies don't get cracking or do something close to terror tactics, I'm afraid we're all going to be downloading stuff, legally, alegally or illegally.

So the question is, will that mean no more TV shows, no more films, no more music? I was ruminating on these terms when suddenly it dawned on me -- what if, what if instead of buying the product after it is done, audiences gave a sort of economic vote of confidence to an author, musician or company to produce or record X, Y or Z? If you think about how some products such as Firefly cause such a fan movement to revive a particular show, I wonder if individuals would not be willing to "fund" future shows or musicians or even film companies, the same way that politicians get funding. Particularly if they are faced with an "either this or nothing" scenario. This would also possibly imply more micromanagement and a different source of promotion, but we already have the tools: youtube, myspace...

This is possibly just rambling, but hey, I've been speaking about the prices of houses falling down for years and nobody listened... well, whatever, you can call me Cassandra. But if I'm right, in ten years time I'll proudly wave this post in the air. HA.

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