"Logging in" to Television Stations

You may use this content, but please cite (c) 2005, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein.

When I began my career as a professor, I remember trying to excite my students about the future of electronic media. I told an introduction to telecommunications class (large lecture hall) that one day in the future, television viewers would be able to "log in" to a television station to see its broadcast I gave the example of the Cleveland Indians playing in Seattle against the Mariners, and that how they would "log in" to, for example, KING-TV to see the game. This was around 1986, and I also seem to recall students' eyes glazing over ("Do we have to know this for for the test?").

I also remember telling that class about the coming digitization of electronic communication. If they understood that any media content can be digitizel, that meant it could be taken anywhere, and perfect copies could be made (unlike the technology of the hour, VCRs). Images, audio, video, it didn't matter. All media content (photos, radio, television, film) could be digitized and duplicated ad infinitum. This smelled like a revolution.