Internet TV Almost Ready for Prime Time

A few years from now, we'll look back at today's hardware for watching Internet video on TV, and we'll laugh. That's not to say that the current technology isn't sophisticated it is. The problem is that in order to view Web based content in our living rooms (as opposed to on a PC monitor), we have to jump through far too many hoops. And that's why the Web over TV movement is still more of a minor uprising than a full scale revolution.


The best Internet video to TV options such as Apple TV, Roku, and Vudu are separate, dedicated boxes. For true mass market adoption to occur, providers must offer home appliance style functionality: plug in, turn on, and tune in.


The More Things Change...

This assigment evoked a strong feeling of déjà vu for the author. Today, though, we have plentiful bandwidth, great networking, mega HDTVs, and unlimited storage. So how come on one (aside from hard-core techies) has made the transition yet?

In a word, business. The entertainment industry simply isn't comfortable with having the Internet on TV. The networks like the fat checks that conventional television advertising provides; the cable companies like the cash we fork over cach month in subcriptions; and Hollywood likes the revenue that cable and TV send in for all that juicy, exclusive content. The cash cow could expire if consumers take the backdoor route and acquire content via broadband. That's why Web on TV content libraries are still very limited. The cable folks are keeping the good stuff--news, sports, premium movies for themselves.

If it were forward looking, the cable industry would have a tremendous competitive advantage in bringing the Internet into the living room. Consumers already have a cable hookup and a cable box plugged into their TV. With flick of the switch, that connection could expose a universe of online content, without costumers' having to patch in additional devices or mess around with a home network.

Sure, opening the floodgates might be a risky business move for cable providers, especially since the margins on Internet video are much lower that those from traditional broadcasting. But playing ostrich is far riskier. At some point, all of us will be getting our TV over the Internet. If the barons of cable can't figure out how to carve themselves a slice of the pie, they'll be out of business. Just look at the withering newspaper industry, which was similarly slow to embrace the Web as a delivery mechanism.

Ultimately, the consumer will win when accessing broadband based video and a full slate of programming, takes minimal effort. First up is Yahoo's soon to be released Connected TV platform, which will deliver a broad range of content directly to Yahoo enabled sets, including a model of Samsung that should be available shortly. Equally promising, Comcast is prepping a Hulu competitor and has already inked deals with television manufacturers LG, Samsung, Sony and Vizio. The future of broadband based TV, it seems, just might rest in the living room set itself.

And this time, we won't need to wait 12 years to get the TV we want.