I think film will be around for a very long time to come. Personally, I love this age we're in of digital EVERYTHING, but there are many "purists" out there who swear by film and see anything digital as a toy or simply "not good enough" for their artistic endeavors. I simply say good luck to them! I'll gladly spend the $30 for an XDCAM disc over a few hundred bucks for canisters of film that need to be coddled and refrigerated. Anyway, I'm sure film will stick around. After all, you can visit B&H's website right now and see still cameras for sale (expensive too!) that look like they were ripped straight out of the late 1870's.
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Originally Posted by Brian Standing
Will there be a broadcast television industry after 2009?
I really think the digital broadcast standards that kick in the U.S. in '09 will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Between YouTube, Netflix and PlayStation, I don't know anyone under the age of 30 who watches T.V. anymore. How many more people simply won't bother to make the switch to digital broadcast? How much longer will advertisers continue to support a declining market?
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Yes, there will be broadcasting after 2009. The small TV station I worked for last year here in Alaska had already installed and activated digital transmitters in Fairbanks and in Juneau. They're currently working on getting the equipment set up for Anchorage. The network ABC has already made announcements to their staff and to freelance videographers that they will begin using the new Sony PDW 700 XDCAM HD cameras this fall. I'm pretty sure NBC made a similar announcement as well. These aren't cheap cameras, and the networks are hoping that making the investment in these new cameras will yield the same great longevity that they've enjoyed with Beta.
Even though the writers strike had an effect on the industry, the big networks are still going to have their big upfront sales presentations this summer. People/businesses are still spending good money advertising on TV, and it does work! I always enjoy hearing clients tell me how customers walk in to their store because they saw the commercial I made.
Also, TONS of people under 30 watch TV- and they watch quite a lot of it. However, us young folk don't have the same watching habits. thanks to new things like DVRs and Tivo, people can watch whatever they want- when they want. Other innovations like iTunes and Apple TV make it so that people can watch Youtube videos or video podcasts on their big screen TV. Advertisers are doing everything they can to get to the under 30 crowd, because the math still shows that those of us under 30 still spend a lot more than older (30+) people.