[opendtv] Re: The End of TV as We Know It
- From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:03:17 -0500
I personally believe this scenario is inevitable over the regular old
Internet and very high speed WiFi.
It will be held up for many years by cable companies lobbying to make
telcos pay cable-like tariffs on video. And by both cable companies and
telcos lobbying to stop cities from putting in their own very broadband
networks.
But it will come. Information transfer will just become too cheap for
us all to have to believe video is too expensive for the Internet.
Audio or even graphics used to be a problem too.
- Tom
Monty Solomon wrote:
> The End of TV as We Know It
>
> Sit back on the sofa and get ready for packetized, on-demand, digital
> broadcasts.
>
> By Frank Rose
> Wired Magazine
> Issue 12.12
> December 2004
>
> We live in the age of the digital packet. Documents, images, music,
> phone calls - all get chopped up, propelled through networks, and
> reassembled at the other end according to Internet protocol. So why
> not TV?
>
> That's the question cable giants like Comcast and Time Warner and
> Baby Bells like SBC and Verizon have been asking. The concept has
> profound implications for television and the Internet. TV over
> Internet protocol - IPTV - will transform couch-cruising into an
> on-demand experience. For the Internet, it will mean broadband at
> speeds 10, 100, or even 1,000 times faster than today's DSL or cable.
> Online games would be startlingly realistic; the idea of channels
> would seem hopelessly archaic. Why not indeed?
>
> So far, the answer has been inertia. But competition is a powerful
> stimulus. For years, DirecTV and EchoStar have been adding
> subscribers far faster than cable, so cable companies want something
> satellite can't match. At the same time, voice over IP is enabling
> cable operators to poach phone customers from telcos. Combine VoIP,
> truly high-speed broadband, and totally on-demand TV - and you've got
> such a compelling proposition that the Bell companies figure the only
> way to survive is to do likewise.
>
> IPTV is not to be confused with television over the Internet. On the
> public Net, packets get delayed or lost entirely - that's why Web
> video is so jerky and lo-res. But private networks like Comcast's are
> engineered, obviously, for reliable video delivery - which means IPTV
> will look at least as good as TV coming from digital cable or
> satellite.
>
> It will be accompanied by another, equally critical change. Instead
> of broadcasting every channel continuously, service providers plan to
> transmit them only to subscribers who request them. In effect, every
> channel will be streamed on demand. This will free up huge amounts of
> bandwidth for hi-def TV and high-speed broadband. Add IP and you get
> interactive services like caller ID on your TV. And the system will
> be able to track viewing habits as effectively as Amazon tracks its
> customers, so ads will be targeted with scary precision. Put it all
> together and you've got television that's as intensely personalized
> as 20th-century broadcasting was generic.
>
> ...
>
> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/start.html?pg=7
>
>
>
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