XplanaZine

I guess everyone has a nostalgic memory about watching television. My personal favorite dates back circa 1970 and involves watching Project Terror on KENS-TV, a station out San Antonio, Texas. Project Terror came on at midnight every Friday and always opened with the same line — “Project Terror, where the scientific and the terrifying emerge.” They always showed a couple of really bad sci-fi or horror flicks and yet it was somehow cool enough that my brother and I begged our mother to let us stay up and watch every week. I still remember sitting in the living room with the lights off and scaring ourselves to death.

In my family, as in most others, TV is a part of our culture. We probably watch less than a lot of folks, but we certainly have our favorite shows and movies. And, as if Project Terror were the beginning point of a lifelong pattern, I still like to stay up late on a Saturday night and watch movies with my kids.

This past weekend, we added a new wrinkle to the mix. It all started when I told my kids about AOL TV and how you could watch all these old shows for free. They immediately went to the site to check it out and my daughter, a sci-fi fan, said she had heard of “Babylon 5″ but had never actually seen any episodes. I suggested that we all sit down on the couch and check out the beginning of the pilot — you know,. just to give the kid a feel for it. Naturally, that led to watching the entire pilot and another episode or two.

What I found most interesting about the experience was the convenient freedom this particular content distribution afforded us. At one point, my son decided he wanted to read so my daughter and I took my laptop and watched an episode in the comfort of our oversized chair in a room that does not have a TV. It was fun and it was freedom.

Later, my son called us into his room to show us a series of his favorite clips from YouTube. We watched this compilation much the same way we would watch a TV show or a movie — we viewed, discussed, laughed, rewound, and watched again. My daughter and I then proceeded to make our own collections and made the others watch them. All in all, it was one of the most fun and most interesting TV-watching experiences we’ve had as a family.

Now, don’t get the wrong idea. This isn’t a plug for old sci-fi shows or for a particular content provider. Nor am I suggesting that we should start watching more TV or turn our kids loose on YouTube without some supervision. However, our collective family experiences with Internet TV over the weekend did give me a deeper understanding of why flexible video content distribution makes sense. It really is anytime, anywhere watching.

Of course, the Internet TV race has only begun. Every major network is lining up with distribution deals, and players ranging from Apple to Sling Media are jockeying for position with hardware and content portal and distribution solutions. One of the solutions currently making big waves in Japan is Sony with its LocationFree mobile TV/video software. Sony’s solution is to provide a base station (at the originating place, like your home) along with its mobile software so that people can experience broadband TV (from the originating place) anywhere with a broadband wireless signal. This means never having to miss local programming or other favorites when you travel.

At this juncture, nobody knows what the final list of software and hardware will look like. Eventually, as with analog TV solutions, there will be standardization on software and hardware, and there will be clearer lines of delineation between what is free and what we have to pay for. Meanwhile, however, we are living in the wild wild west of Internet video and there are many many shows and clips worth watching. If you’re new to this experience, start with YouTube, Google Video, or AddictingClips for free video shorts and games. If you’re always a bit nostalgic for old TV shows that got cancelled against your wishes, check out AOL TV.

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