Steve Jobs has commented on how to disrupt the TV market before. Here is the transcript of the relevant parts: "The problem with innovation in the TV industry

Steve Jobs has commented on how to disrupt the TV market before. Here is the transcript of the relevant parts: "The problem with innovation in the TV industry is the go-to-market strategy. The TV industry has a subsidized model that gives everyone a set-top box for free, or for $10 per month That pretty much squashes any opportunity for innovation, because nobody’s willing to buy a set top box. Ask TiVo, ask Roku, ask us…ask Google in a few months. The only way that’s ever going to change is if you can really go back to square one, tear up the set top box, redesign it from scratch with a consistent UI across all these different functions, and get it to consumers in a way that they’re willing to pay for it. And right now there’s no way to do that. The TV is going to lose until there’s a better — until there’s a viable — go to market strategy. Otherwise you’re just making another Tivo. It’s not a problem with technology, not a problem with vision, it’s a fundamental go to market problem. And then it not like there’s a GSM standard where you build a phone for the US and it also works in all these other countries. No, every single country has different standards, different government approvals, it’s very…Tower of Bableish. No, balkanized. I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out, but that’s why we say Apple TV a hobby; that’s why we use that phrase." For video see the section on, "On Apple TV and why television is balkanized:" http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/what-you-need-to-know-about-steve-jobs-talk-at-d8-2010062/ http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/what-you-need-to-know-abo... I've blogged about this subject before as well, but I'll include my thoughts here as well: "Content producers like TV studios and stations control the entire TV industry because they control the content. They’ve created this market where customers pay for the content (subsidized by commercials) and get the hardware for free. But by getting the hardware for free, they’ve stifled any innovation and advancement downstream from content production. Only through the magic of open-source software has innovation happened. XBMC is an amazing piece of software and is getting easier and easier to use very day. At the same time, downloading TV is now easier than ever and still getting easier. It’s only a matter of time before someone makes the 'Napster for TV shows.' People are already dropping their cable for Hulu and Netflix." http://bitfluxx.com/2011/04/16/the-revolution-is-coming-and-it-will-be-televised.html http://bitfluxx.com/2011/04/16/the-revolution-is-coming-and-...