Television? or just video on another screen

Should we even call it television anymore?--soon it will all be (online mostly) video viewable on multiple kinds of screens--

The Gordian Knot of Television | MIT Technology Review: " . . . Why not just let Apple negotiate directly with networks for their content, cutting out the middleman? Basically, it’s a giant negotiation problem, though. As Patel points out, “instead of managing just a few major relationships with the cable providers, Apple would have to manage hundreds of relationships with content companies — companies that already have testy relationships with Apple services like the iTunes Store.” (And the man who deftly managed those relationships, Eddy Cue, has his hands full fixing Apple Maps at the moment.) If Apple, or whoever, took this route, it’s likely that the launched product would be missing a number of major channels. The other option is less intuitively pleasing, less Occam’s Razorish in its simplicity, but it’s probably fundamentally the more likely one. This is for Apple to basically allow cable companies to outsource their UI design to Apple. The cable companies actually make a lot of money off those interfaces, though, through ads, pay-per-view buttons, features shows and the like, so that will also be a huge negotiation. But there are some forward-thinking leaders in the cable industry who have signaled a willingness to make this happen. Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s CEO, is an interesting figure to watch. He recently said that he’s eager to see if Apple will make a TV of its own. “I hope they do,” he said, citing Apple’s “good interface and navigation skills.” Bewkes is canny, also aware of the potential threat of so-called “cord-nevers” to his business–young folk who, far from “cutting the cord” of cable, never really adopted it to begin with. The takeaway here is that there’s only so much speculation we observers in the tech press can provide on whether Apple or another company will provide the hardware and software to supposedly fix our TV woes. It’s a massive business and negotiating problem, and the battle to struggle to simplify our TV watching experience is probably happening on golf courses and in fancy restaurants, rather than in R&D divisions."

Actually it's already happening--YouTube has a huge lead--people want their "television" as "video on demand" on multiple devices--tablet, smartphone, notebook, desktop computer, and of course, "TV set" which is quickly becoming just another "screen."

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Popular streaming channels: Netflix: The king of movie and TV show streaming. $7.99/mo. YouTube: User-submitted videos and some original programming. Free. Hulu Plus: TV shows days after they air and some movies. $7.99/mo. Amazon Prime: A strong Netflix competitor with other Amazon benefits. $79/year. Crackle: Movies and TV mostly from Sony's library. Free. Vudu: Movie rental site owned by Walmart. Fees per movie

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