18 Comments

1. M. Simon:

I don’t think the subscription model has a future for a general audience.

Run commercials. Ten seconds at the beginning – twenty seconds in the middle – thirty seconds at the end.

Dec 6, 2008 - 10:22 pm 2. Wadeusaf:

Col. Austin Bay sounds too much like Jimmy Stewart.

Dec 7, 2008 - 7:17 am 3. F:

Richard: Don’t be concerned about the shameless plug. I signed up, and others will too. Gotta get your product out there for people to see and buy it! That said, some improvement in production quality could be entertained — just as an example, repeatedly showing the same stock shots of Indian policemen, burning hotels, and empty shell casings on the pavement detracts from the final product. But to all, I say, keep working on it! I think it’s a tremendous improvement over the slickness (visual and intellectual) of commercial TV. F

Dec 7, 2008 - 7:59 am 4. JFSanders:

Commercial driven news is the preferred business model. The problem with using it is the enormous initial costs involved in production. With the ad revenue coming after the production and publication. Once there is a base of subscribers to support the initial production I believe that there will be a place for overlapping content driven by ad revenue.

Just a note. I do not subscribe to anything until I see something that can’t be had otherwise. Time sensitive information is one of those things I do subscribe.

Jim

Dec 7, 2008 - 8:19 am 5. JFSanders:

Hey, Wade.

Being a zoomie yourself. You should like Jimmy (Bomber Pilot) Stewart.

Jim

Dec 7, 2008 - 8:21 am 6. Insufficiently Sensitive:

I never have watched TV much, and don’t own one. The problem with acquiring news from video is time – it’s a serial delivery system, and one has to wait through every second of the broadcast to catch the bits, if any, of real interest. Whereas with print media, selective reading saves time (in fact, transcribed dialog may be read far faster than listening to spoken language). And I’m careful where my time goes.

The speculative flyer one takes by subscribing a monthly fee in hopes that one or more videos might be so valuable as to repay the investment is of course a matter of individual judgement, but for this kid it doesn’t add up. Observing the earnest expressions and furrowed brows of interview participants doesn’t, for me, make the information from their thoughts and dialog any more telling than the words themselves.

And I say this knowing that the participants in Pajamas Media are far more likely than the denizens of the MSM world, or God help us the cozy clubby knowitalls on PBS and NPR, to dig up and discuss the crucial information that those denizens and knowitalls religiously exclude from their ‘news’ – or twist into curious and useless shapes.

So my sincere apologies to Pajamas Media for seeming indifference or apathy towards video productions. I sincerely admire all the members of PM, and eagerly snuffle through their websites multiple times daily with thanks a thousand times for their efforts.

As a thought cartoon, just imagine such essays and discussions as show up regularly on Belmont Club, seeing print in an organ of the reactionary left such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Fuses would be blown all over town…

Dec 7, 2008 - 9:48 am 7. Tony:

I agree with Insufficiently. The reason I like the Web is that I can find and consume info much, much faster than I can with TV. The idea of sitting at my computer and watching television without typing anything back holds no appeal. Sorry. (Now, maybe if you guys were flying X-15’s or something like that….)

I would suggest you publish some bullets or snips of the conversation so we can at least get a flavor of the TV chat. That would make it more enticing to try it out.

I’ve never heard you speaking, Wretchard. I almost signed up just for that pleasure, though I feel I can “hear” you perfectly well in your writing.

So, back to the topic – is everyone agreed that the Mumbai op was carried off by a much larger number than just the 10 enemy casualties?

Dec 7, 2008 - 10:01 am 8. Pascal:

Tony, you can hear wretchard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oBYFIOTEWY

Youtube says there are a total of five of these.

Dec 7, 2008 - 10:27 am 9. Wadeusaf:

JFSanders

Dec 7, 2008 - 2:07 pm 10. NahnCee:

Agree with commenters that watching is much more time-consuming that reading, which is why I’ve never been able to get into Instapundit’s efforts either. I understand from the talker’s point of view, however, that turning a camera on and TALKING is much more time-efficent for the presenter, than having to type up and transcribe one’s comments.

I rarely take the time to watch these offerings, however, unless they appear to have something that I won’t be able to find a description of elsewhere. Or unless I’m assured and promised that it won’t take more than 2 or 3 minutes. The thought of being able to hear Wretchard’s voice might be a sufficient lure in this particular case.

Dec 7, 2008 - 2:52 pm 11. heather:

I have subscribed to PJTV and like running one of the programs while I am doing something else at my desk.

And the program on Mumbai/Bombay was interesting, and useful, too.

And Wretchard was totally intelligent. As was Austin Bay. The advantage of PJ is that it has really smart people in its stable, so it’s worth putting in the time to run the tv program…

And hey, I love Poliwood.

Dec 7, 2008 - 3:21 pm 12. buddy larsen:

Snipped from the wiki bio:

Stewart…enlisted in the Army in March 1941. He became the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II.

(further on)

In March 1944, he was transferred as group operations officer to the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had been experiencing difficulties. As a means to inspire his new group, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on numerous missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. These missions went uncounted at Stewart’s orders. His “official” total is listed as 20 and is limited to those with the 445th. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July 1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force. Before the war ended, he was promoted to colonel, one of very few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.

Dec 7, 2008 - 4:01 pm 13. NahnCee:

Tried to sign up. Couldn’t find it. It must be an IQ test to weed out the dummies, and I guess I’m not smart enough.

Dec 7, 2008 - 5:39 pm 14. Tony:

Thanks Pascal!

I had always imagined Wretchard would sound like a dinky dye Aussie! But he doesn’t, in fact, he sounds like me, no accent at all.

Dec 8, 2008 - 6:54 am 15. nobozons:

Wretchard, we are in violent agreement, it is a shameless plug. There are just too many asking for money.

Dec 8, 2008 - 9:38 am 16. buddy larsen:

i could take dinky dye Strine but what if he’d come away from Harvard (Haavahd) with the Locust Valley Lockjaw ?

The lockjaw –think Porky Pig playing Colonel Kurtz “…the haw wah…the haw wah….”

Dec 8, 2008 - 2:25 pm 17. Wadeusaf:

Mr Laahsin, you must simply learn to ello-cute. Its “a dee, a bid dee ah Haaw wahid”.

Dec 8, 2008 - 6:15 pm 18. buddy larsen:

haha –remember that great intro –that 8 second fanfare playing over the big bullseye with the lion roaring off the last downbeat –wot a hook –those guys was pros –

Dec 9, 2008 - 12:05 am

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