Both of the major U.S. Satellite TV companies act as if they've come up with some kind of new concept in television. This is utterly deceitful. Satellite TV companies use the same closed paradigm as cable - a bunch of channels, most of which you never watch, for an exorbitant monthly subscription price.

True, they might offer a few more channels for a slightly lower price than cable, but the concept is still the same. Yes, they offer digital video recorders, but so do most cable operators now. They offer pay-per-view channels, but so does cable. They offer video-on-demand, but it mainly consists of stuff that is also playing (or has already played) on over-the-air channels, basic cable channels, premium channels, and/or pay-per-view channels. The cable companies offer this kind of stunted video-on-demand as well. They offer HDTV channels, but that's like putting lipstick on a pig and it's offered by cable as well. The bottom line is that satellite TV companies are just offering cable on a stick. And the really sad news is that most of what the phone companies are planning to offer over the their lines is more of the same.

What we need is an entirely new concept in TV - an open television paradigm to replace the closed one we have today. Instead of today's linear protocol of watching television shows on a fixed schedule, we need a purely on-demand model in which we are in complete control of what we watch and when we watch it. We should be able to access TV shows in their native form from anywhere in the world: Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, France, Italy, Australia, and so on. We need the ability to access any movie or show made by anyone in the world - from our next door neighbors to a large studio in Hong Kong. We need to have the ability to pull any video product straight from the internet to our TVs. We need to have access to whatever we want, whenever we want it. When someone can give us that, then they'll have a right to talk about their new concept in television and no longer will anyone be able to rightly call it the boob tube!

Terry Mitchell

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, blogger, and amateur political analyst from Hopewell, VA. He's been in the software development/engineering line of work for over 24 years.

He blogs and writes about various subjects such as current events, politics, cultural and social issues, health and well-being, personal finance, religion, technology, media issues, law, government, sports, humor, and trivia.

Through the BlogBurst network, his blog entries are often carried on the Website of the Houston Chronicle, one of the top newspapers in America. In addition, his columns and essays regularly appear on American Chronicle's network of 21 online magazines. They have also appeared online on American Daily, Media Monitors International, Opinion Editorials, The Washington Dispatch, Arrivenet, and hundreds of additional websites.

Terry never misses an opportunity to assail political correctness and take pot shots at the conventional foolishness. He's not a bandwagon jumper - he writes stuff that others should be writing, but are not. He thinks of himself as a kind of modern American philosopher. His blog offers commentary from a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.

Terry would love to have his blog picked up and syndicated by a major news or web organization. He also plans to write a book based on his blog. But, for now, he mainly writes for free as a hobby and enjoys having his aritcles posted on as many websites, ezines, news letters, newspapers, and magazines as possible.