Posted on 12/25/2012 3:07:32 PM PST by delacoert
Most television will be streamed over the Internet in the coming years, said Anthony Wood, CEO of Roku, maker of the streaming TV device of the same name.
The question is how Internet-delivered content will get to your TV and who will deliver it, Wood told CNBC's Squawk on the Street. Right now, set-top devices like Roku and Apple TV and Internet-enabled Smart TVs are best positioned to take advantage of the sea change, said Wood.
"Those are the two ways that most people are going to be watching television that's distributed over the Internet," said Wood.
In the set-top battle, Roku and Apple are neck and neck right now. The two devices account for roughly 90 percent of the stream-to-television market. As of April, Roku had sold about 3 million Roku players since the company was founded in 2002. The rest of 2012 has been positive, said Wood.
"We were selling a Roku every second on Black Friday. We're having our best quarter ever this year, and the platform is doing really well," he said.
Stream-to-television devices currently have an advantage over Smart TVs, said Wood. Whereas most Smart TVs deliver a few marquee services, such as Netflix and Hulu, Roku gives customers access to nearly 700 streaming channels, according to the company.
However, the lines between Roku and its Smart TV competition could begin to blur. A number of Roku-ready televisions will debut at CES, the preeminent technology trade show, this January.
"We think there's a huge opportunity to expand our platform from streaming players, where we're a leader today, into TVs," said Wood.
While Wood believes that the future of television is on the Internet, he said it will be some time before consumers give up the bundled services offered by cable and satellite providers. But as these the incumbents face competition from streaming services, he said they may begin to offer more options and cheaper services.
The next generation, he says, is a virtual MSO, or multiple system operator. Such a system would combine on-demand services such as Netflix and Hulu with traditional subscription fee service for programmed TV all via the Internet, rather than cable or satellite.
"That's the big question. I think that's coming, but whether it's next year or not we'll have to see," said Wood.
OK, so they took a prat fall. It’s still true. The technology is there with plain vanilla ADSL to stream movies as good as what the old 525 line NTSC TV could display, with far better sound. Better quality can be, if not streamed on economy broadband, then downloaded within a reasonable time. They’ll be laughing about the server prat fall in a couple of years while bragging that it came to pass in spades.
There are still some flyover areas that need better bandwidth, I would love to dump traditional cable in favor of on demand, but more reliable broadband service would be needed.
The future of television is self-produced youtube (or other hosted) video clips. Why spend 30-60 minutes watching ONE show? Just invest that time in a MOVIE from the past 80 years of talkies.
And tv shows just go on and on and on for years. Who can afford that much time commitment?
Well, I'll probably still be laughing.
My daughter got her boyfriend a Smart TV for Christmas. We haven’t figured it all out yet, but he loves the NetFlix feature.
While I don’t mind self produced videos, I’d rather watch a well a tv show that has well developed plotline that can take years to resolve itself. I tend to watch them in short segments, as I have time to watch them.
But how can I get my Internet service without cable? Right now stuck with Comcast but would love to cut that off if possible.
We buy internet from our local Cable TV provider over fiber optics and we get 5gb speeds. We do NOT pay for any TV package, because it would add minimum $30/month, and we’re very happy with our internet w/o TV. They do call from time to time to try to sell us the TV package, and we don’t buy. We’re just the weird ones, I suppose.
You can buy the internet without the TV package. Just be an ass about it and they’ll eventually relent.
I’m a big curling fan and up until 2011 the only ways I could see it are:
1. Beg someone in Canada for VHS tapes or DVDs
2. Buy select games from CBC for outrageous prices (I don’t think they even offer that service anymore)
3. Get a “grey market dish” and go through the hassles in setting up an account or endure signal outages.
4. Wait every four years for the Olympics
Now with high a speed cable modem and HDMI cable, I can connect my computer to my TV and watch a plethora of curling content. Many sources such as TSN, TESN, WCFTV and Youtube offer full matches for viewing (available either live on a short time delay). Last week, for the first time, I was able to watch the European curling championships....something that was once only viewable via Eurosport.
With Netflix and HULU many of my DVD collections are no longer needed.
I no longer have a need for a land line phone (I use an Ooma phone), cable TV, dish or even standard over-the-air. There is so much content I only watch “regular” TV for live sporting events or breaking news.
Dropped cable 3 years ago, I have an LCD plugged directly into my computer, watch everything via internet via a channel’s website, I use a wireless mouse and keyboard, no cable bill, Comcast owns MSNBC, I will never watch nor affiliate myself with any subsidiary owned by Comcast Universal NBC! I would rather get my info from North Korean state TV than watch any of Comcast’s socialist propaganda!
I love seeing how the pundits have aged though, but I love the fact I no longer have to hear them yelling over each other.
I know but its still pricey. Like $70 per month for Internet only service. I wonder if I can find a way to cut that down to $30 to $40 per month. Comcast.
A lot depends on whether you have competing services available. Once we got ATT U-Verse availablity, I was able to browbeat Brighthouse Cable pretty effectively on price. I do have to negotiate every 6 months or so.
I bought a ROKU 1000 on Ebay to play with.
Does anyone know how to connect the old roku’s to a computer to play video files?
The man is correct. Cable will be relegated to broadband. Satellite will be consumed
Are you able to use a DVR very easily with that setup? I watch very little live tv so if I can’t record, that would be ineffective for me.
Okey, dokey, so you cut off cable, as many report above, and then order Internet only service. From who[m?}, the cable company or the phone company? For how much, as opposed to cable+Internet?
Internet only comes to about $70 per month from Comcast. Not a great deal. How about tethering a 4G phone to a laptop that has a router for the other laptops in the home?
HDTV Ping list
How many of you are using ROKU or Apple TV.
Do you find it superior to Cable or Satellite? Is it price competitive?
.....watch everything via internet via a channels website.....
Elucidate please
What about Fox News?
Interested in the HDTV ping list?
Please Freepmail me (freepmail works best) if you would like your name added to the HDTV ping list,
(approximately 375+ freepers are currently on the HDTV ping list).
The pinged subjects can be HDTV technology, satellite, cable, OTA HD reception (Over The Air with roof top or indoor antennas), Broadcast specials, Sports, Blu Ray/HDDVD, and any and all subjects relating to HDTV.
Note: if you search Freerepublic using the keyword HDTV, you will find most of the past HDTV postings.
LasVegasDave.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.