http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/ Engadget Comments for Is internet TV the key to à la carte? http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/All big cable has to do is make video streaming a pain in the but by throttling your internet connection.
Streaming services are at the mercy of big cable. A la cart tv services from anybody esle that's not big cable or a big tv network is just a pipe dream.]]>Mar 30th 2009 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/
At that point the wires will be in the ground and they'll just be happy to keep their jobs. ]]>Mar 30th 2009 2:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/
There is simply too much area in this country to cover and Fios and other newcomers are only going to show up in the densest urban areas where the subscriber per square mile ratio is high. For the other 50% of the country (far flung suburbia, exurbia and rural areas) they won't bother and we will all be stuck with the same old same old... cable companies who have been handed monopolies by local municipalities who can do whatever they want and who are rarely challenged. The "free market" this is not.

That is why FCC intervention is necessary. Just as AT&T and the Bells were forced to share their line (lines they built on public rights of way mind you) the cable companies should be forced to open themselves up to real competition. These companies built their empires using government contracts which lock the competition out. The time has come for them to really compete.

In the meantime, I do believe that new tools like Google's throttling detection software will help the average consumer become more informed about their bandwidth. Right now ISP's can lie to your face and tell you one thing and do another and there s no accountability or recourse. As internet streaming and downloads become more important these tools hopefully will become more mainstream and keep the ISP's honest.]]>Mar 30th 2009 8:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/
I don't think that subscription TV is going away, people are just getting a finer control over where to draw the line for subscription vs a la carte and the associated costs.

I've personally cut back to subscribing to the channels that are offered OTA and am getting the rest of my content through Boxee + iTunes.

]]>Mar 30th 2009 3:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/Mar 30th 2009 4:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/Ask me how much of these things a really use?
Fios TV (watch about 5 HD channels and about 2 SD = 7 channels out of 250+
NetFlix (disc rental)- I do use this (all bluray)
NetFlix Streaming on xbox 360 - I used it when It was first introduced to the 360 but not much after.
Vista Media center with plugins - I have never sat down and watched a full netflix stream and/or mirawold stream on this thing. I do listen to some radio from shoutcast, but not a lot.

In all, I (we) have sooo much media to choose from but the question is how much of it are we really gonna used. It's Just TV gluttony
]]>Mar 30th 2009 5:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/Mar 30th 2009 9:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/Mar 30th 2009 11:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/
I think they real key here is an AppleTV app store. Imagine if Major League Baseball made a MLB.tv app for apple tv. For 99 dollars, stream every game in HD.]]>Mar 31st 2009 8:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/
Sure if they did a subscription it would be cheaper, but in the current market there is no motivation for the content owners to offer such a service. Now in the future I do expect this to change because eventually the amount of money made via advertisement on broadcast cable will be nothing since DVRs enable everyone to skip the ads.

This is when I see the content owners decide to offer content directly to consumers, which is the point of my post.]]>Mar 31st 2009 8:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/
But none of the solutions out there are the answer either and DVR adoption while helpful is not all that is needed. Until companies can come together to support single, standardized format that can work on a variety of boxes I doubt digital downloads and streaming will get much traction beyond the bubble of early adopters and enthusiasts.

Because what the mainstream loves more than anything else is simplicity. Having to go to one box for some content and another box for other content and to go to cable or OTA for other content and Hulu or Netflix for the rest is way too scattershot. The only people who will put up with that as a solution are geeks like us who love this stuff. We need simple, one-stop-shopping for streaming/downloads to really take off.]]>Mar 31st 2009 10:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/Mar 31st 2009 9:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/is-internet-tv-the-key-to-a-la-carte/
And give it to me without commercials, or with limited commercials, for $10/mo more.

If you even THINK about capping my connection beneath 250gb / mo, you will immediately lose my business.]]>Apr 20th 2009 1:20AM