The Future of Television

It really is an interesting time for television. The traditional way we watch TV has changed over the years. We started out with over the air programming to cable and satellite programing, and now we have internet TV and on-demand programming at the touch of a button. I can see why the TV networks were scared of this future. It’s hard to create a pricing structure for traditional TV when more and more people are using alternative methods to watch their favorite shows.

I recently installed the beta version of Boxee to see what all the twitter hype was about. Boxee gives you a true entertainment experience to enjoy your movies, TV shows, music and photos, as well as streaming content from websites like Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, and flickr. No longer are we confined to what the cable companies give us. We have many options to choose from, with more and more being added everyday. Tv.com is becoming a huge portal for on-demand streaming content and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that service added to Boxee. We also see more and more dvd players and TVs with Netflix streaming ability built in. I think it’s great that the major networks are finally jumping on board with the on-demand streaming of programs. What have they got to lose? They are gaining advertising dollars. Now people have a legal place to watch their favorite shows. Hulu was an excellent start and ABC’s HD streaming of Lost is fantastic.

I think we will see more and more televisions and media devices (such as DVRs, game systems, and DVD players) with built in streaming technology in the very near future. Eventually, I envision a TV with a single DVD player box that allows for all the services like DVR, Netflix, and internet streaming all tied into one. It will be exciting to see where all the technology goes.