5 ms·

Apple May Be On The Verge Of Kneecapping The Cable Industry. Finally.

15 points by AndrewWarner 17y ago

ezy 17y ago
Netflix is much, much closer.
- jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
  What makes you say that? Not disagreeing either.
- houseabsolute 17y ago
  They're not moving fast enough and their On Demand offering is weak. If they don't watch out, someone is going to displace them.
  - ezy 17y ago
    That's somewhat subjective -- I've found Netflix's OD to be pretty good. At any rate, "weak" is less important than ubiquitous right now. Weak is easy to fix, you just encode more titles and perhaps upgrade your software. Netflix is on(in) almost every device that counts for home entertainment now. Not in the future, not waiting for some specialized device or deal... they are present and accounted for. All they need to do is start providing more recent content, and they are there. Apple is essentially nowhere in this space.. AppleTV is it. And not many people bought into that (I did, and I was disappointed). Not only that, but apple offers no clear benefit -- netflix is at least cheaper than driving to blockbuster -- appletv has never been cheap to "rent" from and given the quality -- that's not really justifiable.
    - houseabsolute 17y ago
      But if Apple gets the TV deal and Netflix does not, then all of these points are moot. My point is that Netflix's drive to ubiquity over content is great for getting new customers, but it doesn't offer much to someone who already has a way to consume the content they offer. If Apple offers me a better deal, I'll be dropping Netflix quickly.
jsz0 17y ago
There's a big opportunity here for someone. Lots of people prefer the linear video experience. They want to flip channels and have content pushed at them so they don't have to think. The other piece that's been missing for a while on IPTV is live sports. Both MLB & NBA are now offering their league pass IP video subscriptions on the iPhone. MLB is on the Roku set top already. Between gaming consoles with IP video options, Smart TVs, and now more dedicated devices like the Roku player I don't think Apple can stay out of this market much longer. It's going to happen with or without them.
brisance 17y ago
Looks like Apple is going to leverage on MobileMe. If you're a MobileMe subscriber you will get an "all-access" pass to movies, video and audio content etc with no ads. On top of that you get email, webhosting, "Find My iPhone" features etc. This is eWorld v2.0 as envisaged by Steve Jobs.
- spicyj 17y ago
  No way can they pay each network $3/month for the current MobileMe price of $99/year.
jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
Do to the 50 inch screen what the iPhone did to the 3 inch screen. The device connected to my tv should be as open and capable as a computer, yet still fit the form factor. ie- an iPhone is a full fledged computer running a real OS. It just meets the form factor and purpose of a 3 inch screen. What apps would you want to see on a 50 inch screen besides content (which is the killer app)?
- protomyth 17y ago
  games are almost always the killer app
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    Add pictures, social media, Facebook, twitter, cutesy pics with cats and inane captions. Take all the dreck of cable, but make it interactive and navigable. This will be 10X more addictive through variable reward schedule than channel surfing. Add in real-time video chat so you and your cadre can MST3K commentary everything online at the same time. It's couch-potato crack!
  - jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
    I'm working on making a 10 foot ui type site with embedded heyzap games for fun for my HTPC. Different than the console games, but games none the less.
- anigbrowl 17y ago
  I'd argue that a Playstation 3 gets very close to your requirement list. So do most consoles, it just happens to be my favorite of the 3 in terms of design and usability. Both it and the Xbox have access to Netflix for streaming movies, which is a big plus. You were asking about Netflix below. You might be interested to her I was talking to a film distributor last week, who mentioned that from their perspective video-on-demand and premium channel sales (as served by cable) are almost dead, and while they get fantastic analytics from iTunes movie downloads, they accelerated quickly and then plateaued. Netflix is becoming the revenue generator that distributors pursue prior to the end-user DVD sale for indies. Obviously, the model is somewhat different for big-ticket films where broadcast will pay a premium for the premiere rights, and/or specialty films (eg cable channels MTV or VH1 are still good for music documentaries). But in his opinion Netflix is becoming the most important secondary market distributor.
stcredzero 17y ago
It's amazing how sentences where [X] kneecapps the Cable Industry make everyone exclaim a little internal "Yay." We are peons. We are resigned to it. Markets do not work for US cable. (EDIT: Pedantic version: the US "cable market" doesn't work very well as a free market.)
noarchy 17y ago
So how is streaming HD going to benefit those of us crippled by monthly bandwidth limits? The cable companies aren't going to be encouraged to get rid of those, especially in the face of a new competitor that uses those very pipes. And fwiw, I am in Canada, where ISPs have been imposing caps for a while now. If you're lucky, you live somewhere where you can buy service (without a monthly cap) from a re-seller (who themselves might be getting throttled by Bell, or whoever else it is).

15 points by AndrewWarner 17y ago

ezy 17y ago

Netflix is much, much closer.

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
What makes you say that? Not disagreeing either.
houseabsolute 17y ago
They're not moving fast enough and their On Demand offering is weak. If they don't watch out, someone is going to displace them.
- ezy 17y ago
  That's somewhat subjective -- I've found Netflix's OD to be pretty good. At any rate, "weak" is less important than ubiquitous right now. Weak is easy to fix, you just encode more titles and perhaps upgrade your software. Netflix is on(in) almost every device that counts for home entertainment now. Not in the future, not waiting for some specialized device or deal... they are present and accounted for. All they need to do is start providing more recent content, and they are there. Apple is essentially nowhere in this space.. AppleTV is it. And not many people bought into that (I did, and I was disappointed). Not only that, but apple offers no clear benefit -- netflix is at least cheaper than driving to blockbuster -- appletv has never been cheap to "rent" from and given the quality -- that's not really justifiable.
  - houseabsolute 17y ago
    But if Apple gets the TV deal and Netflix does not, then all of these points are moot. My point is that Netflix's drive to ubiquity over content is great for getting new customers, but it doesn't offer much to someone who already has a way to consume the content they offer. If Apple offers me a better deal, I'll be dropping Netflix quickly.

jsz0 17y ago

There's a big opportunity here for someone. Lots of people prefer the linear video experience. They want to flip channels and have content pushed at them so they don't have to think. The other piece that's been missing for a while on IPTV is live sports. Both MLB & NBA are now offering their league pass IP video subscriptions on the iPhone. MLB is on the Roku set top already. Between gaming consoles with IP video options, Smart TVs, and now more dedicated devices like the Roku player I don't think Apple can stay out of this market much longer. It's going to happen with or without them.

brisance 17y ago

Looks like Apple is going to leverage on MobileMe. If you're a MobileMe subscriber you will get an "all-access" pass to movies, video and audio content etc with no ads. On top of that you get email, webhosting, "Find My iPhone" features etc. This is eWorld v2.0 as envisaged by Steve Jobs.

spicyj 17y ago
No way can they pay each network $3/month for the current MobileMe price of $99/year.

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

Do to the 50 inch screen what the iPhone did to the 3 inch screen. The device connected to my tv should be as open and capable as a computer, yet still fit the form factor. ie- an iPhone is a full fledged computer running a real OS. It just meets the form factor and purpose of a 3 inch screen. What apps would you want to see on a 50 inch screen besides content (which is the killer app)?

protomyth 17y ago
games are almost always the killer app
- stcredzero 17y ago
  Add pictures, social media, Facebook, twitter, cutesy pics with cats and inane captions. Take all the dreck of cable, but make it interactive and navigable. This will be 10X more addictive through variable reward schedule than channel surfing. Add in real-time video chat so you and your cadre can MST3K commentary everything online at the same time. It's couch-potato crack!
- jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
  I'm working on making a 10 foot ui type site with embedded heyzap games for fun for my HTPC. Different than the console games, but games none the less.
anigbrowl 17y ago
I'd argue that a Playstation 3 gets very close to your requirement list. So do most consoles, it just happens to be my favorite of the 3 in terms of design and usability. Both it and the Xbox have access to Netflix for streaming movies, which is a big plus. You were asking about Netflix below. You might be interested to her I was talking to a film distributor last week, who mentioned that from their perspective video-on-demand and premium channel sales (as served by cable) are almost dead, and while they get fantastic analytics from iTunes movie downloads, they accelerated quickly and then plateaued. Netflix is becoming the revenue generator that distributors pursue prior to the end-user DVD sale for indies. Obviously, the model is somewhat different for big-ticket films where broadcast will pay a premium for the premiere rights, and/or specialty films (eg cable channels MTV or VH1 are still good for music documentaries). But in his opinion Netflix is becoming the most important secondary market distributor.

stcredzero 17y ago

It's amazing how sentences where [X] kneecapps the Cable Industry make everyone exclaim a little internal "Yay." We are peons. We are resigned to it. Markets do not work for US cable. (EDIT: Pedantic version: the US "cable market" doesn't work very well as a free market.)

noarchy 17y ago

So how is streaming HD going to benefit those of us crippled by monthly bandwidth limits? The cable companies aren't going to be encouraged to get rid of those, especially in the face of a new competitor that uses those very pipes. And fwiw, I am in Canada, where ISPs have been imposing caps for a while now. If you're lucky, you live somewhere where you can buy service (without a monthly cap) from a re-seller (who themselves might be getting throttled by Bell, or whoever else it is).