iPod beyond apple tv

[pale9]

a vision of the future? how soon could apple pull off what i am about to describe....?

an apple tv box that could do the following:

you choose the programs you would like to see from a menu, you no longer have to actually subscribe to satellite or cable tv. just as with tivo, you can specify how many episodes to keep, etc.

several shows you want airing at the same time? no longer a problem. the servers at apple record everything of every channel, so they can download to your apple tv anything you want.

you have 7 tv's in your house? no problem here either. a small device, lets call it the apple tv receiver, hooks up to your tv set and speaks wirelessly to the hub, serving up whatever that viewer wants to see.

and lets say you have nothing waiting on the server to watch, the apple tv can stream to you any channel you want in real time.

who else wants this?

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

This is actually not out of sight. Most of you major cable companies actually have this exact plan for the future. I have read numerous articles on it here and there.

Kevin

 

[mkrishnan]

With respect to Apple's plan, the core element is getting lots of TV stations / content producers to sign deals to display things on the Apple Store. The whole "when things air" etc issue is pretty irrelevant, since Apple isn't selling "live" TV. The most important issue is how many people provide their shows and how soon after / before the actual broadcast Apple is allowed to sell.

Like you can already "subscribe" to a season pass of a show and have it automatically download episodes as they are created.

Of course the other problem with this is it could get cost prohibitive to replace cable TV with this model. Even if you pay $80 for some super-nice cable package, this means you can only really buy 40 shows per month.

If what you're talking about, though, is anything involving a blanket "subscription" that lets you view but not necessarily keep shows permanently...who knows? Apple has been extremely resistant to this. And in the music market, they've been proven correct in their position repeatedly. But with the TV/Movie market, it's harder to say. It looks like Apple is doing well with movies, even though it's a very slow progress. We'll have to see if Netflix's online service allowing you to stream movies to a Windows PC takes off or not.

And whether Apple really cares or just continues to go for the purchaser segment. When you look at what Apple sells now -- Disney / Pixar in particular... I think the purchaser model is perfectly valid. Those movies... Cars, High School Musical, The Little Mermaid... those are the movies parents buy for kids and their kids watch until they wear them out. But there do seem to be large numbers of movies that people just want to rent....

P.S. Actually, now that I think about it... does the Apple TV product allow direct shopping on the iTunes store from the TV, or do you have to do it from the computer?

 

[pale9]

maybe you're right, but i don't like the itunes store

maybe my description above is purely wishfull thinking. i really would NOT be interested in purchasing every program i want to see. in my oppinion the apple itunes store is way too expensive. the red box dvd rental kiosk at my local supermarket lets me rent current release dvd's for only 1 dollar per night. why would i pay time warner cable 4 bux or more for a pay per view? just shows how we are getting fleeced by blockbuster, the cable stations and even itunes. i personally would prefer paying a given amount of money per month for unlimited tv viewing/music listening(ipod downloading) without feeling the need of 'owning' the stuff.

 

[alywa]

The only thing that will keep this from becoming reality is bandwidth. I'd love to see a public / private sector joint project to lay fiber all over the nation (like the interstate system)... with planned upgrades as technology allows. This isn't that farfetched of an idea when you think of how important digital distribution / communications have become, and its impact on commerce / economy. Or better yet, serious work on nationwide / worldwide wireless data systems. Less maintenance costs, greater access for people without expensive wiring costs, easier to upgrade. Likely a combination of the two.

 

[mkrishnan]

the red box dvd rental kiosk at my local supermarket lets me rent current release dvd's for only 1 dollar per night.

These seem like a great idea. I've seen them the last time I was out of state, in Vegas, I think. I really wish they would come here.

 

[m-dogg]

The main problem I see with this idea for the future is live sports. That's one thing where people really need to see it live. Apple, etc... will need to find a way to accomodate this before a lot of people will be willing to stop paying for cable.