Streaming Media - June/July 2008 - (Page 82) analyze that In each issue we’ll pose a pertinent question to a group of market analysts to give you a better sense of how the financial services sector perceives developments in the streaming media industry. Here’s this issue’s question: Q uestion At this point, just about anyone with a broadband connection, a recent-model TV, and a few hundred dollars to spend on a set-top box can watch internet-delivered video on his TV screen. We know they're able; the question is, are U.S. consumers ready and willing to embrace the PC-to-the-TV leap, or are they not quite there yet? For all but the technologically savvy, consumer-driven internet-delivered video over the TV is not forthcoming (except perhaps what TiVo is doing). Although third-party providers such as Apple may be marketing it, cable providers are not, and to ensure mass deployment it will be necessary to get them on board. They still view it as a risk because they don’t know how they will make money on it. So, even if consumers are willing to embrace it, for now, the question is irrelevant. Importantly, when this does happen it will be a game changer for everyone in the food chain. Colby Synesael Senior VP, equity research telecom and data services • Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. Inventors tinkered with the TV and came up with Pong (http://invention.smithsonian. org/resources/fa_baer_index.aspx) in the late ‘60s; there have been many attempts since then to deliver new kinds of content to the TV. Fifty years on, we are finally at a point where TiVo can deliver video from internet sites to the TV, for example, and consumers have already leapt from the TV to the PC to do a good amount of viewing. Now, consumers need a reason to want that content on the TV before we can talk of bridging the PC-TV divide. Interactivity, personalization, and niche content can be had, if consumer electronics companies and ISPs work together to deliver it. Jim Davis Senior analyst, networks and media • Tier1Research.com 82 STREAMING MEDIA June/July 2008 http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/fa_baer_index.aspx http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/fa_baer_index.aspx http://Tier1Research.com
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