[PittsburghAfterDark]

The end result for video services is going to be ugly.

A few consolidators may own all the major distribution channels like satellite and cable and think it’s a stranglehold. It isn’t.

They key to televisions future lies in unlimited broadband and the set top box. Think Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV.

Bundled and wide ranging television packages are going to die a horrid death. I do question the regulatory approval for this but this type of consolidation is truly desperate when you look at the fact that anyone under the age of 20 has figured out how to watch anything they want without cable or satellite.

[freedumb2003]

>>They key to televisions future lies in unlimited broadband and the set top box. Think Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV.<<

Yep.

I still am terrestrial (mostly my ATT bundle is the best deal in my area, but I missed DirectTV a LOT).

But when I feel the value isn’t there, I will cancel and go to a pull model (also Netflix — and YouTube has hundreds of thousands of full episodes of shows of the types I love).

[grania]

The problem is the two mega-mergers are going to control content, which they won't have to offer to anyone except their own subscribers. They'll be so huge they'll create their own shows. The rest of us will have to watch the shows on minor channels or Netflix later, or purchase DVDs. They'll also be rich enough to buy rights to major sports events.

That's happening already with shows on stations that aren't on free antenna TV. Free TV will exist, but the content will get even worse.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

They key to televisions future lies in unlimited broadband and the set top box. Think Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV.

Comcast has started charging Netflix a premium for service - and of course Netflix is going to pass that cost on to consumers (who are already paying for Comcast's service). This will not be the last time it happens, either - as long as the ISPs are also in the business of providing content services which compete with the content services their customers want, they have a financial incentive to disadvantage services like Netflix and anything else which might be available on Roku or Apple TV.

Eventually it'll get to the point where services like Netflix must charge customers too much to be viable options to ISP content services, and before they finally are driven out of business I'd expect to see them impose conditions like bundling in an attempt to stay alive.

In 5-10 years, the US will have 2 or 3 major streaming content providers and they will be today's major cable providers - the cost advantage of owning the ISP service as well as the content service is unbeatable.

[napscoordinator]

They key to televisions future lies in unlimited broadband

Those days are ending. They want to put a 200 GB on all families in the next few years. Comcast will be the first to do this.

[cableguymn]

and that is why the big boys are moving to limit traffic on their networks for those types of services.