Kickstart Project: Digital Television

After looking through the textbook, I browsed through chapters for a topic that peaked my interest. I was drawn more towards technology that directly influenced media and how we interact with it. So for the upcoming Kickstart project, I decided to focus on digital television technology.

Its evident that television has advanced at a remarkable pace within the last two decades alone. The services that are provided for television like cable and satellite have changed with it as televisions turned from an electronic to a smart device connected to the internet. With these changes, came new services and new ways to watch. The rise of streaming services like HBO Max, Netflix, and Paramount have started pushing people away from traditional cable.

Being able to witness these changes first hand is incredibly fascinating to me. Growing up, I can vividly remember coming home from school and waiting with my brothers and tuning into Disney XD or Nickelodeon at 6:00 PM to catch a new episode of our favorite series. I can even remember watching the Saturday morning cartoons before heading out to run errands with our parents. Now that I'm in college and living separate, I can still enjoy watching my favorite television shows with a click of a button on appliances like a projector and laptop. Gone are the days when we had to wait until a certain hour to watch a specific show, now we can binge watch entire series and old television programs.

In this upcoming project, I want to dive deeper into the switch of services with newer televisions. I'd like to research more into how the technology of television itself will change with these new services. Especially, in an age where people can surf the internet, shop online, and where they have more streaming services than they know what to do with.