One of our chat room ops (Lin) sent me an email a few hours ago:

Do you know about the streaming show that went on for several months, I THINK it might of been from a house in New Jersey? Premise was, this guy submitted application to be sequestered in a house for a number of months, and if he survived it, stayed in the house the entire time, he would win a sum of money.

He was streaming live on internet 24/7 and viewers could post on the website that was connected to the show, what they wanted this guy to do each day, such as when he would get up, when he would go to bed, what he would wear, what he would eat, etc.

Well, I just saw an interview a couple of nights ago with Julie Chen, who hosts the CBS TV show Big Brother, and on this new season (which starts this coming Thurs.), there is a twist. One of the contestants in the house will be playing for the viewers. Viewers will be able to tell this contestant things he or she MUST do, while in the house, such as try to start up a romance with another housemate, etc. and whatever the viewers decide, that contestant MUST do. The other contestants will NOT know this contestant is ‘special’.

Well, Chris… I am POSITIVE Big Brother got the idea for this twist from that streaming internet contest! I am seeing mainstream TV commercials on the networks that imitate YouTube videos, and a few months ago, there was even a car commercial that was a YouTube video that some family had put up on YouTube, re: kids opening Christmas presents and going wild with glee.

Bottom line; Mainstream TV is stealing / borrowing their ideas from streaming internet TV!!!!

Thanks, Lin – and I’m not surprised at all. TV networks are infamous for taking other people’s ideas and running with them. The best we can hope for is being credited for our creativity at some point. I’ve had some of my YouTube videos used in TV commercials, and were paid (handsomely) for them.

We’re undoing television, and they understand this; it’s just a matter of time before everybody has access to “Internet video” directly on their television screen. To a certain degree, it’s possible with AppleTV – but we have a long row to hoe.

We are the Future of TV