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WSJ: How to Bring the Internet and TV Together
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 3:00 PM - by John Martellaro
Millions of people watch Internet video on their computers, but the tech industry cant seem to figure out how to get them to do the same thing on their TVs, according to the Nick Wingfield at the Wall Street Journal. [Subscription required.] The author suggested how to bring the Internet and TV together.
It would seem to be easy. The breadth of content on the Internet is greater than whats available on cable and satellite TV. The comfort of the living room and a big screen would seem to be alluring. Yet, consumers arent buying in for a variety of reasons.
Even Apple and Akimbo havent been able to reach beyond the early adopters into the mass market. One factor is the complexity. While the satellite and cable companies have legions of technicians in trucks, consumers are asked to pay for an expensive box from an independent and bear the technical burden of setting it up.
"The issue with these next-generation set-top boxes is theyre hard to use, hard to install and the return on investment isnt particularly large because the content is available elsewhere," said Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost.
Even so companies keep trying. TiVo has expanded into the Internet. The Vudu box has a large library of movies, including many in high definition. The lure of the massive Internet keeps companies trying and failing to move their key box into the living room. That may be the problem: too many boxes.
If any contingent is in a position to take advantage of millions of customers with a single box, its the cable and satellite companies, and yet they havent been generally successful either. Even AT&Ts; U-verse is off to a slow start.
Mr. Wingfield proposed a solution: Open up the boxes delivered for free to the millions of current users, create an open standard, and let anyone who wants to deliver content play in the sandbox. Also, thinking smarter, as Vudus box does, with the first few minutes of every movie stored locally as a seed for help with long HD downloads, but in general Internet speeds will just have to get faster.
"Residential broadband connections are already getting zippier, with speeds in some parts of the country of 30 to 50 megabits per second through services like Verizons FiOS. For those faster speeds to matter, though, providers of Internet video will also need to boost the speeds at which they deliver content on their end, especially if that includes high-definition video aimed at big-screen televisions," Mr. Wingfild concluded.
Unfortunately, those very high speeds would threaten the current business model of cable companies, as would a universal, open set top box. How these traditional companies navigate these conflicts will determine whether were all watching the Internet in HDTV in a few years.
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