TV Ennui: Are Viewers Totally Content, or Just Really Averse to Change?

There's a great collection of stories in today's NY Times, focusing on efforts to change the way we watch TV (online and in our living rooms.) The overall message is that viewers are either pretty happy with the cable/broadcast/satellite programming that finds its way into their living rooms, and that most media companies (except Sony) have pretty much given up trying to produce original shows for the Web. There's also the obligatory piece about 3-D TV.

Links to the stories below, along with a short excerpt from each one:

- Sony's Bet on Sticking With Web Shows

Sony Pictures Entertainment has continued to pour money into Crackle.com, ordering Web shows that cost up to $1 million each. Why is Sony still betting so big? For one, it thinks it has hung around long enough to learn important lessons about consumer psychology when it comes to the Internet. But Sony also has a potential ace up its sleeve when it comes to funneling Crackle video to TV sets.

Analysts point out that Crackle could become the primary entertainment channel for Sony’s PlayStation Network, a fast-growing video service that pumps games and online content into the living room via PlayStation 3 consoles.

- Crowded Field for Bringing Web Video to TV

Start-ups and tech giants alike are offering what they say are easy ways to pipe shows and movies to a TV, hoping to win over people who might want a cheaper or more diverse alternative to cable and satellite service.

These companies have a lot of convincing to do. Most people do not have the tech-savviness to tackle the hardware and software setup that these products often require. And the companies are not able to offer access to many shows and channels that are on traditional pay TV, nor bundle services like phone service and Internet access at a discounted rate, as TV service providers do.

- TV Makers Predict a Bright Future for 3-D

If all goes as analysts predict, 3-D TV could account for half of all television sales within five years.

So far, 3-D TV is a sliver of the overall market, accounting for about 2.5 percent of new television sales in the United States in the last quarter, according to a survey by the market researcher iSuppli.

- Plenty to Watch Online, but Viewers Prefer to Pay for Cable

These are confusing times in the living room. The proliferation of Internet video has led to much talk of “cord-cutting” — a term that has come to mean canceling traditional pay TV and replacing it with programming from a grab bag of online sources.

But so far Americans are not doing this in any meaningful numbers. “Nor is there any evidence of it emerging in the near future,” said Bruce Leichtman, the president of Leichtman Research Group, which studies consumer media habits.

- DIY TV: How Are You Watching?

Everything I watch is from various online sources, or is viewed at the apartment of a generous friend or at one of the bars around New York that hold screening parties for popular cable shows.

Although we’re still in the minority, some like me are cobbling together a patchwork way to watch our favorite primetime and cable TV shows without ever signing up for Comcast or a similar provider.