Exploding TV
: A key issue for media — news and entertainment — is being able serve consumers where, how, and when they want to be served. It’s an issue not just for TV fun; it’s an issue for any form of information and media. But we’re seeing the issue start to bubble and boil in TV. See this from EDN.com (via Rafat Ali):
As broadband gets faster, storage gets cheaper, and home-networking products get smarter and more capable, video via the Internet will morph from a clumsy PC-based process into a painless remote-control operation. Video files might accumulate in a cache according to your predefined preferences, or improved compression might make an on-demand streaming approach more palatable. A PC might orchestrate the process, or you might buy a video server of some kind. You might sign up for programming subscriptions or choose programs one by one.
The details don’t really matter. The point is that video will flow into your home at your command, and your network will deliver it when and where you want to consume it. We’re a long way from that ideal today, but the trends are undeniable….
So to the content owners out there, please realize that exclusive deals no longer make business sense. It’s shortsighted to limit the market for your high-value programming to the population served by a single delivery mechanism. Along with a few hundred million of my closest friends, I’m willing to pay a fair price for your product, so please focus on making it available to me through whatever medium I prefer.
