TV is Moving to the Internet

TWC is trialing Internet TV. “The beta service will let some customers get online Internet TV services, without requiring a cable connection, through a Roku 3 device,” according to eweek.

Comcast Xfinity, Verizon, Boingo, DISH (Sling TV) have joined Hulu, HBO, Starz, and CBS with streaming TV services. It will all move to IP — not necessarily over the Internet. Netflix has been trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to be treated like a cable channel on cable networks. WOW accepted the challenge.

On Sunday morning, Yahoo! exclusively streamed an NFL game from the UK. Yahoo paid $17 million for the privilege and had about 13.5 million unique visitors. The experience had mixed reviews. “Why, it’s almost as if people were using different connections, technologies, hardware and transit routes to connect to the same source! Interestingly, the stream appeared to fare much better for set top (Roku, etc.) and mobile devices than it did for traditional browsers, though I’ve yet to see a comprehensive explanation why,” reported DSLR.

I find it interesting that the Roku is a common denominator in these deals (not Cisco).

Roku allows consumers to (1) own the set-top box; (2) save money (as much as $10.95 per month on set-top box rental); and (3) one portal for all TV choices. This may be the wave of the future; moreso than the Internet TV due to the ease of updates to the Roku.

NPR has a story about cable nevers and cable cord cutters. It seems the big reason is money.

We are in the midst of a fight for the middle class, a living wage, et al. What gets lost in that over and over is that our economy is based on service industries. Look at any major thoroughfare in the US: it contains grocery stores, dry cleaners, restaurants, drugstores, coffee shops, etc. RETAIL and SERVICE. This only works if consumers have disposable income. Income has been flat for a long time (while expenses have increased).

Henry Ford knew it. Today’s CEOs do not get it.

I have always looked at financial reports thinking that most companies have peaked organically. VISA, Mastercard, NFL, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon. Without inorganic moves, these companies have peaked and the revenues have one way to go: down.

Take Sprint for example. Softbank dumped like $20 Billion into Sprint. It is losing ground to T-Mobile. It never got close to Ma and Pa Bell (ATT, VZW). Now it is in cost cutting mode. Organic sales/growth just have not happened for Sprint. So revenues go slip, sliding away.

“Every industry and every organization will have to transform itself in the next few years. Every industry and every organization needs to transform itself…or fade away.”
– Tim O’Reilly

“The pace of change is unprecedented–and staggering. … From a business–and, for that matter, government–perspective there is, in a sense, only one overarching strategy: constant, high-speed innovation.” – Tom Peters

Tags: cable, cableco, innovation, Internet, internet, sprint, tv, TV, yahoo
Related tags: industry organization, companies peaked, transform itself, cable, internet, sprint