Personally, here in the UK, I wouldn't want to rely on the internet for my TV. I think we're currently quite well served. Freeview is decent, Freesat is very good, and all the major channels have catch-up services. Then there's the likes of Sky, Apple, BT & Virgin providing Pay TV services.
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Sony Looking to Cut Out Cable Providers with Web-Based TV Service
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It's a fact that the AppleTV isn't a success!? Where did you get this information from?
While we would all agree that it isn't as wildly popular and successful as say any other Apple product, I would hardly call it an unsuccessful product. They have sold millions of them. Compared to GoogleTV the AppleTV is a run away success.
Furthermore, just because Sony has "hardware already in place" doesn't mean that hardware is going to be compatible with future services.
Still would be great to see cable alternatives pop up. Currently, I purchase two shows regularly from iTunes (The Simpsons and Fringe) and watch everything else from the networks website when available (mostly PBS and The History Channel).
Outstanding recommendation. Can't believe the last EP, and did you notice it was directed (his 2nd or 3rd) by Peter Weller (aka Robocop)?
Also, Justified, American Horror Story and Madmen. Some fantastic TV on right now.
...which is also a problem when trying to "cut the cable". While I'd say with all the stagger we don't watch that much TV week-to-week, it's enough that a pay-per-EP adds up pretty quickly, and that's assuming you can even get the current episode reasonably close to the original air date.
Yeah it's a pretty good lineup. Freeview serves me well and I just grab torrents for the US shows that I watch (twitter and forums; spoiler city. Also good way to not see adverts).
For me it depends on how they pull this off. If we get global release dates for TV shows, their servers are fast and the quality is very high then I'll go down that route. But Apple can't even pull that off so I doubt Sony will.
It comes to light that Steve Jobs has "cracked" the problem and has a plan to cut out the middlemen with an Apple-like user experience to boot, and then wouldn't ya know it, these other guys pop up (some of them who can barely manage their core business, never mind build a viable, competing ecosystem) and say "What a coincidence! We've been working on the same thing for years now!"
Of course they have. LOL
I'm just a critic, same as you. We'll see who's right.
The thread you're in right now, is merely a continuation of THIS thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1274132/
We wish Howard all the best, I'm sure.
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So they copied something Apple hasn't even done yet? I suppose you think they read the Job's biography and came up with this idea?
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The incremental cost of cable tv on top of broadband Internet from the same provider is too small for me to really care about this. Once yore paying for one service, adding a second relly isn't much more.
The incremental cost of cable tv on top of broadband Internet from the same provider is too small for me to really care about this. Once yore paying for one service, adding a second relly isn't much more.
As if Steve Jobs was the only person who has been trying to break the Cable conundrum. Oh PLEASE LTD - get a reality check.
And it shouldn't be ANY surprise that Sony or any other TV MANUFACTURER would naturally be thinking in this direction.
It's not only possible -but very logical - that since Steve's bio came out and it was mentioned that Steve "cracked" the TV issue (which details are non existent) Sony wanted to let the world know that it's been something they've been working on for years. The press window opened up.
It's called positioning. Sony might have originally wanted to keep their work quiet and launch with a boom when they were ready - but since Jobs bio came out - they entered the media fray. There's nothing wrong or surprising about that.
Why?
Because if they hadn't - you'd still be arguing in 2-3 years when Sony came out with their product that they copied Apple. Or that they only started to work on the product BECAUSE it was known Apple was working on it to.
So again - LTD - you intentionally set up a no-win scenario for anyone other than Apple.
I really think instead of Sony trying this out on their own, they should partner up with Apple. Then you have the two largest consumer electronics companies along with significant media holdings. That would get the media corps attention. and give Apple and Sony some leverage when negotiating. the rub will be what the cable providers do to punish. Will they throttle the speeds down? Make ridiculously low monthly caps? As someone noted above, they have a monopoly in different cities and regions, that really limits what apple or sony can do to pry the media conglomerates and cable apart. Cable companies will go nuclear to keep from becoming dumb pipes.
So everybody knows what's wrong with this industry. It's only when Apple looms that anyone else pulls their finger out and tries to make things better.
They should be doing this all the time. They shouldn't need an actual innovative company like Apple to spur them in to action.
Still, this is good news. If there is intense demand for more flexible content deals, the providers have to listen. If this becomes a major stumbling block for all players trying to change TV, the courts could be forced to intervene and break up the existing anticompetitive contract structure.
IMO, this is a very likely scenario. The TV industry right now is a cartel.
They should be doing this all the time. They shouldn't need an actual innovative company like Apple to spur them in to action.
Still, this is good news. If there is intense demand for more flexible content deals, the providers have to listen. If this becomes a major stumbling block for all players trying to change TV, the courts could be forced to intervene and break up the existing anticompetitive contract structure.
IMO, this is a very likely scenario. The TV industry right now is a cartel.
I don't care a fling and flick of poo who does it. More power to Sony if they can finally pave the way for this to happen. This is one aspect were I'm more than happy to empower the pioneer in this so that it becomes "mainstream". I'd sell my tv before I pay for cable tv. Pay per channel, that's where it's at and I think that's where you'll find tons of people want this.
Content providers are scared that they will piss off cable companies, but think of it this way, stay traditional or be a first mover and piss off cable companies but go completely iptv serving up per channel. Yeah it's a heck of a risky move, like betting the farm, but rewards COULD be huge. Plus it'll slim down operations of content providers to produce only what people actually want. The field would become more like, well already is, but like music. Turning out same crap ppl want (reality shows I'm looking at you).
It's really only a matter of time b4 it happens, but will it be now or 20 years from now.
Edit: I know it's a dream, but this is an area that pisses me off to the amount of control cable providers have.
Yes, they do. But what will they do when the broadcast pipe dries up because we are no longer buying their "bundled" channels. I dumped cable in February and went exclusively iTunes/Netflix/local streaming with my Apple TV.
The cable companies may be reluctant to "unbundle" their services while they still have customers willing to pay that way. If the customers abandon that model, they will have no choice. Better to sell me 5 channels I want than NOTHING, which is what they are selling me now. And at that point, download caps would only serve to reduce the amount of content I would buy. Their model will have to change.
It's funny, I don't see a comment like this towards smali for his comments. Did you forget?
Sorry - and who do you think will want to dictate the terms and conditions. I don't see this happening because I don't think Apple plays nicely with competing companies.
Madmen and Justified are next in the queue. I'm waiting for Fringe and Sons of Anarchy to finish up before I fire them up. Don't want to have too much to watch all at once here.
I haven't heard of American Horror Story, but I'll check it out.
This is pretty much the reason why I haven't gone completely internet only yet. Hulu takes way, way, WAY too long to get some episodes, and iTunes is a little overly expensive to use on a per episode basis. If this Apple TV thing takes off, what I'm hoping they do is offer up season subscriptions via iTunes. If it's a reasonable amount, like, say, $10-15 per show, I'd hop over in a split second no questions asked.
You've got that right! Paying $70+/month for cable with hundres of channels I never view and loaded with commercials totally sucks. Let me select what I want commercial free for a fee.
I'm old enought to remember when cable was first offered. The main pitch was that it was commercial free. People bought in and then they started adding commercials.
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Tens of millions of Sony TVs in homes that don't have this feature built in. It looks more like an even playing field to me.
I think looking for "channels" ala carte will be the hard part. Cable has "channels" pretty much locked down. Looking for shows ala carte is already possible now. Between Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, Zune and other services available, it's quite easy to cut the cord. I did it two years ago. The stuff is out there, you just have to look for it. I will say, you can basically forget getting everything you want with only one service. I don't think that will ever happen again. Cable is the only place that will give you everything - for a price. But as long as you don't care about appointment TV - ala carte is available now. It's great.
Yeah, that would never happen. Actually, neither company likes playing with others. But Apple would almost certainly refuse outright, Sony's been forced to a couple times.
Wrong Idea
I don't even want to pay for à-la-carte channels. I want to pay only for the shows I want!
Unfortunately, with a monthly cap of only 35GB, no other choice for ISP, zero OTA signals and no such things as Hulu/etc in Canada, I don't enough choices. And TV shows on iTunes are way too expensive.
But I did cut the "cable cord" over five years ago. I'm tired of paying monthly bills left and right.
I don't even want to pay for à-la-carte channels. I want to pay only for the shows I want!
Unfortunately, with a monthly cap of only 35GB, no other choice for ISP, zero OTA signals and no such things as Hulu/etc in Canada, I don't enough choices. And TV shows on iTunes are way too expensive.
But I did cut the "cable cord" over five years ago. I'm tired of paying monthly bills left and right.
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