Could Wii Replace TV?

The prospect of Nintendo's video-on-demand service is scaring some TV execs in Japan. Will the popularity of the Wii supersede the long-standing popularity of broadcast television?

Nintendo Co. plans to cash in with their upcoming television channel; taking on some big and usually powerful networks. The channel is said to launch this spring, and offer free and Wii Point pay content, reports UK's The Times.

Positive response in Japan could see the service go international, reaching 40 million homes. The success of the Wii, on such a broad scale, has exceeded everyone's expectations. Nintendo's track record of pushing media content on their systems is dismal though. But the Wii is no normal phenomenon, and half of its players are women. Ad men are scrambling with ideas for Wii TV ads. And a few TV execs are worried too.

TV executives had previously complained their ratings were already down, because more pleasure time has been devoted to playing the Wii. But now they have greater fears of a total shift in the market and ownership of broadcasting. One senior executive at Fuji Television, Japan's biggest commercial broadcaster, said that Nintendo's ambitions were "the stuff of television producers' nightmares."

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  If this service start to stream TV programs like Hulu.com then TV is in trouble. Netflix is already replacing Blockbuster and a lot of cable services. Why pay for dozens of channels that you are not going to watch?

  LeSomeGuy, 30-11--0001 at 00:00