Comments on: Why Apple TV is a Ticking Time Bomb for Big Cable

By: Cold Water

Cold Water — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:41:15 +0000

gvslim is also incorrect. The DirecTV deal runs through 2014.

By: Chris K

Chris K — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:09:40 +0000

Yes, but that’s what DVRs are for.

Actually surprised more hasn’t been done by advertisers and content providers to combat the DVR.

Is the general public still that clueless about them or does most of the general population still watch shows “live.”

I definitely agree that it is impossible to watch a 2 hr movie on cable because it turns into 3 hours.

It’s really the same with sporting events. Cut out commercials and halftime and a football game is under 2 hrs instead of 3. Cut out the down time between plays and you can watch a football game in under 45 minutes.

By: wolf

wolf — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:47:58 +0000

One thing that some people do not seem to understand is that comparing pricing for cable/satellite vs. appleTV doesn’t really fly.
Come on folks, you have to pay me at least 20 bucks to watch a 2 hour movie on cable because I have to sit there another hour watching stupid ads. Besides, has nobody noticed what it does to people’s brains. It amazes me how much the american consumer is willing to swallow if he can save a dollar or two …. mind blowing …. and it is true, that the american consumer pays at least 3 times: 1. monthly service fee, 2. watching stupid ads, 3. and dealing with the aftermath of all that chaos and time loss. Now put a price tag on the package … meaning they would actually have to pay me!

By: deejayq

deejayq — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 03:41:24 +0000

I have a question for everyone: Do you still watch any over-the-air broadcast TV from local stations in your area? Why and how much? Or, why not and why don’t you any more? Beyond the fact that you can still watch the “Big 4″ network shows over-the-air for free (albeit, with commercials), you also get a variety of local programs including news, entertainment and live sports. (The amount and quality of which, granted, depends largely on the market where you live.)
Here’s another question: in times of emergency, how will you get up-to-the-minute, locally-focused notification if you’re watching so-called IPTV streaming from the Internet? (If there’s a big storm, will you even HAVE a clean connection to the Internet, let alone electricity?)
It appears we all hate “Big Cable” to various degrees, even as we must acknowledge, as several have here, that they own the pipelines that will deliver these killer-app TV streams… if they don’t throttle them down, first. But cable serves rural areas very well when it is hard to receive over-the-air signals out in the hinterlands. And what about those niche cable channels that you don’t watch much, but do have a show you like to watch now and then? What about HGTV and FoodTV and Animal Planet and SciFi, even Bravo and Biography? Will they be streaming shows, too?
I’m not a fan of cable. Nor do I think streaming TV is the panacea so many seem to think it is. And broadcast TV has its own issues… dwindling revenues may kill off many local stations in the next decade, maybe only 5 years, as just one example. Not to mention that no one seems to acknowledge that there’s a huge majority of viewers out there that can only afford just one TV delivery method at once… and new streaming technology simply isn’t ready for their prime time.
I’m trying to play devil’s advocate, here: Dream and/or argue as you will for your favorite Next Big Thing in TV Viewing. I’ll even join with you– I hope to get a new Apple TV for Christmas! But let us all remember that the early adaptors still don’t run the show, they only seek to guide it. And we may see yet a few more delivery channels emerge (and some die off, too) before everyone can afford to jump into this pool. ;-)

By: The nerdy nurse

The nerdy nurse — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 18:42:29 +0000

I am so excited about airplay and a very really opportunity to ditch traditional cable in the near future!

By: EJM

EJM — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:57:59 +0000

Thank you, Positive Sum. Some sanity in an insane world. I think that the author completely missed the point here.

In order to consider a device’s success, you need to consider what it depends on.

All the cable companies will do is raise your Internet bill and lower your TV bill. They can do that however much they want. You can have an Apple TV, a Subaru TV, a Maytag TV, it doesn’t matter. Whoever owns the pipe collects the toll.

By: Positive Sum

Positive Sum — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:16:55 +0000

Why would any over-the-top service be a ticking time bomb for Big Cable? Big Cable provides the broadband on which over-the-top services depend. To the extent Big Cable begins to lose video customers to Apple, Netflix or Hulu, won’t they just begin charging more for high-speeed data?

By: giovanni1975

giovanni1975 — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:06:15 +0000

You guys watch a lot of TV in the US. Don’t you ever do anything else with your sparetime?

By: David H. Deans

David H. Deans — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:30:57 +0000

We’ve seen this argument before, and the resulting outcome, with the major recorded music labels clinging to their old ways. They refused to un-bundle content, even when it became apparent that mass-market distribution thinking was alienating the key influencers.

Fast-forward to today: with the support of content producers the traditional pay-TV industry have resisted a-la-carte channel selection — forcing all subscribers to subsidize over-priced channels, like ESPN in the U.S. market.

That said, some video content producers (include Hollywood studios) are no longer willing to sustain the myopic one-size-fit-all legacy business model, at all costs. Granted, some will choose to hold-out to the very end, and lose market share in the process.

That said, industry analysts are already telling those that hold the securities of big-media companies to unload any stock that is led by a company who has a CEO that’s trapped by denial that a market segmentation and multi-thread distribution strategy is now essential.

By: Arnold Waldstein

Arnold Waldstein — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 21:51:17 +0000

Great post…

I intuitively feel that Apple is the one to break open the gulf between the couch and the big screen TV because they understand the mass market consumer and that is the first key to get this revolution started.

Your thinking on AirPlay stimulated some more thinking.

My quick thoughts on this @ http://bit.ly/9JysME