Bad Apple

       It was recently announced that the three best Charlie Brown TV specials would no longer be presented via linear TV, instead they would only be seen on Apple TV. Linear TV is the original concept of one to many TV featuring the broadcast of the signal over the public airwaves. Apple TV is just another cable channel.

      This news trended on the Internet all day, and then like most news was forgotten the next. Nothing illegal was done and in Apple's defense you can watch these classics for free on designated days.

     What irks people, I believe, is the indescribable loss of something they might have hoped would never change. Maybe the estate of Charles Schulz could have stated that these shows would forever be shown on public access airwaves, meaning you could stick an antenna out the window and watch them. I doubt this even crossed their minds given the immediate production of Peanuts balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade right after "Sparky's death in February 2000.

      It's just another example of a huge corporation desperately trying to maximize their quarterly profit numbers with little regard for how their efforts will look. I own Apple products and consider them very good, though a company's management is not the same as they products they sell. Management decisions can cast products in an unfavorable light. This is one of those instances. We may not notice in the short run but in the long run when we have one less commonality to discuss, especially when we gather around the holidays, we'll probably notice the silence. Even if we figure out what's missing it will be hard to explain the timeless essence of these excellent TV programs to a younger generation. Maybe technology will come to the rescue and our future "Smart TV" will have the Apple TV app built-in. Then this loss of something special will be placed into the category of the vent window on the side of automobiles or the introduction of the DH in Baseball. Both created minor furors but then the next sound you heard was that of the crickets breaking the silence.