Posted on 12/25/2012 3:07:32 PM PST by delacoert
Most television will be streamed over the Internet in the coming years, said Anthony Wood, CEO of Roku, maker of the streaming TV device of the same name.
The question is how Internet-delivered content will get to your TV and who will deliver it, Wood told CNBC's Squawk on the Street. Right now, set-top devices like Roku and Apple TV and Internet-enabled Smart TVs are best positioned to take advantage of the sea change, said Wood.
"Those are the two ways that most people are going to be watching television that's distributed over the Internet," said Wood.
In the set-top battle, Roku and Apple are neck and neck right now. The two devices account for roughly 90 percent of the stream-to-television market. As of April, Roku had sold about 3 million Roku players since the company was founded in 2002. The rest of 2012 has been positive, said Wood.
"We were selling a Roku every second on Black Friday. We're having our best quarter ever this year, and the platform is doing really well," he said.
Stream-to-television devices currently have an advantage over Smart TVs, said Wood. Whereas most Smart TVs deliver a few marquee services, such as Netflix and Hulu, Roku gives customers access to nearly 700 streaming channels, according to the company.
However, the lines between Roku and its Smart TV competition could begin to blur. A number of Roku-ready televisions will debut at CES, the preeminent technology trade show, this January.
"We think there's a huge opportunity to expand our platform from streaming players, where we're a leader today, into TVs," said Wood.
While Wood believes that the future of television is on the Internet, he said it will be some time before consumers give up the bundled services offered by cable and satellite providers. But as these the incumbents face competition from streaming services, he said they may begin to offer more options and cheaper services.
The next generation, he says, is a virtual MSO, or multiple system operator. Such a system would combine on-demand services such as Netflix and Hulu with traditional subscription fee service for programmed TV — all via the Internet, rather than cable or satellite.
"That's the big question. I think that's coming, but whether it's next year or not we'll have to see," said Wood.
all that is there now plus more church stations than AM radio
For us it’s both, not one replacing the other.
If your tethering, the cellphone companies will charge you,for coming and going, where your cell phone is concerned. Downloading from the tower, then downloading onto your device. It’s no problem, if you can keep your data to within your plan, but if you go over, the overcharges are just huge.
I have an opinion about porn and its effect on the internet. Get out of its way.
And we have 3 DVRs. Another reason to put up with cable bundling.
Yes you can, windows Media Player has a feature to record TV and there are various programs that do it too, they have video cards that have TV tuners too for over air HD antennas, also, the LCD TV’s today have both HDMI input and the older DVI standard that older computers used, it truly is a great set up, funny, I used to be a cable guy too, ha,ha, I hated seeing how customers had to pay out a hundreds of dollars for entertainment, especially those who couldn’t afford it, the internet is a gift from God, it truly empowers the individual in a way that is truly astounding, the cable industry can no longer dictate which channels to carry, the phone companies and wireless providers are laying the ground work to compete, the cable industry will be forced to change or die like the corrupt monopoly they are!
Thanks, I may take that path, right now by browbeating the cable co with the possibility of a switch to U-verse my costs aren’t too bad. But I continue to look at alternatives.
I have DSL with download speeds of 2.4. What do you need for decent Roku usage?
What about connecting to the Internet via power lines? I read some stuff about that but nothing recently.
Cable just isn’t in the TV business, it’s into the internet service provider and internet phone business.
We have Roku over cable internet service.
Satellite needs to cut their price for internet service. Speed is up to 15 now.
"Content development"?
Freepers create content for free, for the love of country.
Just hang out on FR and ignore TV.
Netflix was down, but that was do to an issue with the Amazon cloud.Apparently Netflix uses it.
However, all my other Roku channels worked. I checked Crackle, Popcorn and the other public domain movie channels. Even watched a wonderfully dreadful space flick with Lloyd Bridges, Noah Beery, Jr, and Hugh O’Brien after the family went to bed.
That’s still experimental. However, regardless of whom you deal with, you’re still going to have to deal with the provider. :)
I happen to be a big fan of Rugby... Anyway of seeing it online?? I do like the new BEIN network..
Yeah, go here:
www.tvpc.com/ChannelList.php
Surf British TV.
Too bad the future is also the telcos charging more and more for less and less bandwidth. Those here who cried that net neutrality was evil are sure enjoying busting their caps on a couple netflix streams.
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