What Pornography Tells Us About The Future of Television

Coming to Bravo?

Some years ago my friend Russ Kagan asked if I would be willing to meet with Nick Guccione, Bob’ Guccione’s son.

Bob Guccione, for those who are too young, was the founder of Penthouse Magazine, a once very successful mainstream pornography magazine.

Bob’s son Nick had gotten the job of taking the magazine and it’s readers online, and making it profitable.

These were still the early days of the Internet, but already Nick was experiencing what would soon wreck the entire newspaper business.

“No matter what I put up on the site, there’s always better, and lots of it for free’.

It was true.

As Nick Bilton points out in his new book, I Live In The Future and Here’s How It Works, any 23 year old with a video camera, a laptop and an internet connection could now crank out world-class porno all day long for next to nothing.

As Bilton, the lead technology writer for The New York Times also points out, for better or for worse, when it comes to technological revolution, pornography always seems to lead the way.

If that is true, and it seems to be, then what does the DIY Porn Revolution that destroyed Penthouse and seems to be in the process of destroying Playboy tell us is going to happen in the future?

If you can make DIY porn at home and post it on the web, you know what? You can also make DIY Reality Shows.

Yes you can.

And DIY Cooking Shows

And DIY Travel Shows

And DIY Animal Planet shows..

and just about anything else.

Yes you can!

Anyone can do it. All it takes is an idea, a camera and a little bit of knowledge about the technical stuff.

You don’t even need to hire models. People will sign up for Reality Shows for free.

Ever sit and watch HGTV or Animal Planet and think:

a) these shows suck

b) I could do better.

I have.

All the time.

And the fact is that you probably could do better… or at least just as well.

And frankly, there is nothing to stop you from doing it.

How hard is it to produce a Reality Show?

Not very.
A lot easier than self-publishing your book.

A LOT EASIER.

And last year 78% of the books published were self-published.

This should tell us something.

What happened to pornography is now going to happen to television. And television is far more ubiquitous than the very powerful and large pornography industry.

There is no reason why TV shows should continue to be ‘produced’ by networks or by the small handful of production companies in NY or LA that continue to charge pornographic (so to speak) rates for their largely mediocre productions.

I think that DIY TV is probably the future for the industry. And why not? Why shouldn’t millions of people start making TV instead of watching it?

Michael Rosenblum

For more than 30 years, Michael Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital video journalism revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for video literacy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State's Government's broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the VJ paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on this paradigm (1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996). Other clients include Spectrum News, Verizon and CBS News.

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