Over the past few days, two things have really started to shape my view on where the Future of TV is headed. First, on my flight back from Miami on Friday, I read a post by Henry Blodget entitled “The TV Business is Toast.“ Blodget makes the case that the “the traditional TV industry — cable companies, networks, and broadcasters — is where the newspaper industry was about five years ago: In denial.” Furthermore, he states that TV is headed for a fall because:
As with print-based media, Internet-based distribution generates only a tiny fraction of the revenue and profit that today’s incumbent cable, broadcast, and satellite distribution models do. As Internet-based distribution gains steam, therefore, most TV industry incumbents will no longer be able to support their existing cost structures.
And similar to what Fred Wilson recently wrote regarding Boxee, Blodget goes on to declare that in the future:
You won’t have 5 channels, or 50 channels, or 500 channels. You’ll have millions of channels. You’ll be able to watch anything you want, live or taped. You’ll be able to watch it wherever you want — TV, computer, mobile device… This is where the future is going. That’s obvious. The only question is how long it takes us to get there — and who gets killed along the way.
On Saturday Night, I saw first-hand why the TV networks might be one of the casualties of the Future of TV. (more…)




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