The Future of Internet TV

The television, the TV, the tube- whatever name you use to describe this electronic device, it's on the short list of the latest product that you want in your living room. It's obvious that the television is changing and morphing into something new each year and the battle over the entertainment that you can enjoy in your home is not going to end anytime soon. Yes, your living room has been a battlefield for the past five decades and that war is far from over. The future of television (and radio) is most likely Internet Provided Television (IPTV).There are two reasons that make this an economic fact; it costs much less to broadcast TV over the Internet and the potential consumer reach is far greater.

New Internet-ready, smart TVs are already realizing their potential as consumers supplement traditional television content providers in favor of Internet TV options such as NetFlix, Hulu Plus, Amazon, VuDu and others. In fact, many consumers with high-speed internet service have already cut-the-cord and substituted the traditional television delivery methods for IPTV. Many others (like myself) are supplementing their current television subscription and experimenting with these existing versions of Internet TV. Another fact, there is a nation of potential cord-cutters looking for a way to stop paying their current provider for 100+ channels they don't really want. Envision the ability to customize your own programming that is unique to your taste and watch what you want, on-demand. It's coming...

Several reports indicate that Apple, Intel and Microsoft (now Ericsson) are working on building their own Internet-based TV subscription services. Digital media giants like these companies don’t just capitalize on product trends- they create them. These companies are still wrangling with the content providers, but watch for new internet based TV services from these companies soon. On yet another front is the new eye-popping colors and hyper-detail of 4k Ultra-HDTV with screens that promise four times better resolution (3840p) than today’s 1080p HDTV. The new 4K television can deliver almost as much depth as 3D, without the need for those pesky glasses. However, since DVDs or BlueRay discs can't hold enough data to support this new format, the future of this product's content delivery is also very dependent on the Internet or high capacity optical discs.

Yet another concept being developed is called Participation TV or InteractiveTV. Although on-screen shopping channels aren't new, new interactive flavors may have the most promise to change the way we watch TV in the future. This means getting more tailored options for what you want displayed on yourTV (such as weather, sports, movies, news, or similar current information). Interactive also means you may be able to affect the program you are watching. For example, real-time voting on the television screen will allow the audience to create decisions that are reflected in how the show continues. This could be an en-mass program variation or tailored just to specific viewers. This type of interaction can only be fully implemented on Internet TV. Want to be part of your favorite reality show? Being able to participate and broadcast a brief high quality video segment from your living room may become yet another interesting flavor of interactive TV.

It's rumored that Google-owned YouTube may soon announce pay-to-view content on 'new' premium channels for $2-&5 a month. Who would pay when there is already one billion unique users watching free YouTube content? Consider a "backstage subscription" to your favorite NFL team that offers weekly specialized highlights. I'm betting allot of people would pay a reasonable fee to watch this type of unique content. Think a little beyond that and it's not hard to imagine YouTube charging for pay-per-view content libraries and access to live events, self-help or financial advice shows. I don't think Google bought YouTube just because they just wanted to offer free content. I'm betting at some point they are getting in the (pay) Internet TV game along with Apple, Intel, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu Plus and the rest of the gang!

Obviously, much of this is just speculation in the here-and-now. Changing advertisement strategies and new methods to measure viewer ratings will certainly help define what really gets deployed across the Internet on a much larger large scale. Likewise, as broadband networks continue to provide increased bandwidth to consumers, they add even more momentum to this brewing IPTV revolution. Read my previous blog postfor more information about how fiber connections will be the future pipelines for these Internet television innovations. One thing is for sure, two decades after the satellite dish transformed television delivery, the television battle is heating up again!