Cable TV as Going Obsolete Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cable TV as Going Obsolete - Assignment Example 2). The range is more of a generalization rather than a fact since different shows and different networks cater to different people. Taking those into account, television has a possible target demographic ranging from toddlers to octogenarians with little regard for race, level of education or occupation. Over the years, technology has advanced to the point wherein information is accessible through more than one channel. Of late, the internet has become the same kind of competitor to television as television once was to radio. In their 2012 Accenture Consumer Electronics Products and Services Usage Report, Accenture (2012) found out that â€Å"the percentage of consumers watching broadcast or cable TV shows, movies or videos on TV, in a typical week, plummeted from 71 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2011† (p. 8). There are many reasons why people are shifting from television’s scheduled programming to internet. One of the more common reasons is convenience. In a high-s peed world, people find less and less time at home to watch the shows they want to watch on TV. Another recent survey by Nielsen (2012) showed that users of Netflix, an on-demand streaming media provider, have chosen to watch more TV programs on it than ever before totaling 19% of their subscribers which makes an 8% increase from the previous year. Subscribers can watch and rewatch their favorite shows whenever they want with services like these. Another factor that makes online viewing more appealing is the mobility. In a study conducted by Blip.tv (2011), one of the Internet's largest independently owned and operated video properties, people have been spending 9% less time watching television, 26% more time watching web series on the PC, while spending 19% more time watching video content on a mobile device. With the wide range of tablet PCs and smartphones in the market today, people will have little reason to stay at home and watch TV when they can view their favorite videos onl ine wherever they go. On a related note, age and society can also be factors. In the Hollywood Reporter, Georg Szalai (2011) wrote about how baby boomers (47-65 year old citizens) spend more time watching TV than the average person, averaging 5-6 hours a day compared to the 4 hours and 49 minutes of people within the 18-49 year old demographic. Many television networks are making changes to appeal to these people by revamping old shows and featuring familiar faces on their networks. This could be brought about by the older audience’s unfamiliarity with the newer technology. Conversely, the younger crowd is opting for more internet-based or â€Å"cloud services.† Accenture (2012) found that â€Å"Thirty-eight percent of younger consumers have stopped or almost stopped renting or buying DVDs, and 16 percent said they had terminated or were considering terminating TV subscription services† (p. 9). Economically speaking, the increase in the number of consumers willi ng to terminate their TV subscriptions is a practical one. Why would people continue to pay for services they would use for only 3-4 hours a day when they can get the same service anytime they want, anywhere they want along with their internet subscription? All these shifts toward cloud services are dependent on the availability of the hardware and the reliability of an internet connection. Computers are getting smaller, more sophisticated

Do the policies and ideology of multiculturalism unite us or divide us Essay

Do the policies and ideology of multiculturalism unite us or divide us - Essay Example In order to promote multiculturalism, policies are in place to protect ethnic identities of immigrants and Canadian ethnic minorities. There are programs for education, employment and support for navigating government services. However, these policies do not always result in equal treatment. Multiculturalism is a laudable goal and it looks good from the outside. However, it is not always good from the inside. The idea of multiculturalism, especially in Canada, makes people feel like they are part of a greater good, a bigger picture promoting anti- racism, and that they fighting for group and individual equality. However, policies created to help protect identity or to aid aboriginals protect their culture or immigrants to integrate into Canadian society sometimes offer advantages to immigrants that native born Canadians do not enjoy. One very visible difference in policy is in the area of education. Canada has actively recruited immigrants to boost the economy for more than a century . Because of the Offical Languages Act in 1969 to mollify Quebec separatists, numerous ESL and EFL programs exist for adult immigrants across the country to help new arrivals integrate (Derwing and Thompson 2005). However, over the years these programs have been modified to emphasize the employability skills of participants and to communicate Canadian values. Other programs, such as neighbourhood national festivals are promoted and subsidized by the government to allow immigrants to communicate their culture to other Canadians in an effort to promote understanding, acceptance and equal opportunity. The LINC program improved upon its predecessor by adding women, who were considered unemployable, to the list of beneficiaries, but it still emphasized â€Å"Canadian† values, rights, and responsibilities (Bettencourt 2003, 25), including laws, shopping and banking, plus information for services (Bettencourt 2003). It was changed again in 2000. Based upon standards of measurement o f language skills, it aims to bring all immigrants’ language skills to a useful level (CIC 1996). Various changes were made to this program by the CIC (CIC 2001; CIC 2006; CIC 2007; CIC 2009) While all this work to help new immigrants benefits society as a whole, the amount of money spent on these programs is not equalled in educations programs for native born Canadians. For example, a native born Canadian who moves to Quebec is not eligible for free French lessons, nor is a Quebec resident who moves to an English province. This is seen as favouring immigrants at the cost of native born Canadians. Education of immigrant children required a change in Canadian school systems. However, public education is the purview of the provincial governments, not the federal government (JEAN-PIERRE, 2011). So many provinces have developed multicultural programs to help resolve the problems of immigration of non-English or French speaking immigrant children. Since schools are funded mostly by property taxes, this is seen as spending the taxes of the Canadian middle class, generally native born, citizens on programs that do not visibly benefit their children. While a case can be made for the value of foreign language instruction to child educational and intellectual development, Canadian schools already offer bilingual education: French and English. Adding other languages might be better accepted if those added languages