Tech Hot Spot: Streaming Video Content
CMM February 19th, 2010
A really exciting technology area that’s starting to gain some major market validation is streaming video content. According to research from the TDG Group, half of Netlfix customers with high speed internet are streaming the content on a television. Personally, my wife and I utilize Netflix streaming on our Roku and Playstation 3 all the time. The movie selection is a little weak, but the streaming content really carries its weight with television shows. We’ve watched entire series on Roku (as I type, we’re on episode 7 of season 4 Lost). We’ve talked about canceling cable, if it wasn’t for sporting events and HBO’s series (specifically Bored to Death, Empire Boardwalk , The Pacific, since Entourage has almost become unwatchable and HBO ended The Sopranos, Rome, Deadwood, John from Cincinnati every other show I loved). Now that HBO is introducing a streaming platform with HBOGO.com, we’re rethinking our cable subscription. Of course, HBOGO.com has to move to a subscription fee that doesn’t require a television contract, but surely they aren’t so dense as to goof that up.
I’m not sure where technology goes next with streaming content, but I think we have a convergence of traditional content and internet streaming in the not too distant future. Some how, entrepreneurs have to manage the dynamic environments of electronic devices (run for the hills, it’s the iPad) and streaming content. To top it off, we’ve got to build out the infrastructure to have the bandwidth to accomodate all of it. I’d expect a media mogul to attempt something like that, but the current generation is still trigger shy after Time Warner got slapped around with the AOL deal. Mind you, that parent owns HBO… so maybe we’re seeing some down road benefit of that catastrophe. Oh, and Google is also on the job (remember Google TiSP from 2007… yeah, it was a joke, but apparently they were thinking about connectivity to residential households).
If Netflix really wanted to put some pressure on the big media business, they should do a couple of things (in my not-so-humble opinion):
- Provide a rotating streaming big ticket picture on a weekly basis
- Provide the opportunity to stream weather and local media
- Provide streaming of live sporting events
- Build a library of musical performances
If we can keep technology and entrepreneurship on the tracks, we’ve got some real value-add developments coming. It takes a few years (late 90′s and early ’00′s) of stupid wasteful foolish risky ventures to help focus in on the viable opportunities. The show ponies are dieing off and the stallions are left behind. They may not get the attention of show ponies, but that’s because they’re stallions… they do –gasp– work. Our entrepreneurial communities aren’t dead, they’re focused on survival and committed to their concept. But enough of that, or I’ll start talking about the blasphemous and offensive fact that increasing government expenditure decreases small business growth and innovation.
