Google TV, or its ilk, WILL transform the way we watch TV. Yes, we're always going to need an ISP of some sort, and yes, the cable companies are going to try to make things difficult for them by throttling or otherwise making the service less desirable. However, ultimately, this will fail. Here's why....
Currently we have a fragmented population of viewers. The younger generations and techies are used to Hulu and other types of on-line video while the older and less tech savvy are planted in the strictly cable TV world, where the cable box with its OSD is about as fancy as they care to get. However, an increasing number of people are getting familiar with web video and are comfortable with that delivery mechanism.
While it is possible to simply plug a laptop into the TV, only a small fraction of the TV watching public wants to do it. If you have a family, you're not going to convince your household that this is the way to do things.
The integration of web and TV as shown by Google is one of those pivotal "aha" moments. They've opened Pandora's Box with that idea, and it will be so compelling, that people will be sucked in, especially if their new TV has it built in. If I want to watch an episode of a show with my wife, we're not going to huddle around my laptop, we're going to "tune it in" on our TV. With the near infinite variety of video on the web, this eliminates waiting for prime time or for the half-hour, to watch your show. Yes, we have TiVo for that too, but it's a baby step in comparison.
And remember, Google is giving away these technologies to hardware companies that can modify it as they like. So it's compelling for them too. They save millions in R&D and licensing costs, and focus on differentiating their hardware.
The media companies won't go along easily - they'll kick and scream, but the inevitability of this solution will ultimately drag them into it, turning virtually all TV viewing into an on-demand format.
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