Since the early Nineties, tech articles have been touting the word: convergence. That wondrous time when the PC and the TV merge into one device. We heard and read that it is coming. For over a decade, we heard this. Over and over.
Finally it has happened. It kinda took it's sweet time coming, but it did finally happen. The Internet came to the TV screen and TV came to Internet devices.
But wait! There's a catch!You will have a hard time watching video on that old 56K modem. Heck, even DSL and cable have issues from time to time with streaming video. That old wireless router can't serve up the bits fast enough. Your daughter's on Facebook, your son is downloading an album on i tunes and the refrigerator is ordering next weeks groceries as you try to watch a movie on Netflix.
Worst yet, your ISP decides you are hogging too much bandwidth, and cuts you all down to 56K. It's all about bandwidth. He that controls thy bandwidth, controls the world. (for a "fair" price)
And who controls the bandwidth? A handful of companies like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time-Warner and a few others. What you don't realize is these companies are more powerful than any other force on the planet. Sleeping giants, if I may say so. When the FCC decided we needed a National Broadband Plan to become the leaders of the free world, they also decided the Internet must remain open and free. Those companies listed above said, oh no! We can't supply that much bandwidth to everyone, and help low income households connect. We have to throttle down those huge data wasters to allow everyone a piece of the American Pie.
There's also a barrage of new devices hitting the shelves everyday. And lots of confusion with it. Today, the biggest question is "What is a TV?" Time-Warner made an app for the iPad, and almost immediately media companies sent out 'cease and dissent' letters. Media companies signed agreements with cable for them to deliver their programming to home TV sets via cable. They say they never agreed to let TWC deliver it via an Internet app.
TWC however, claims an iPad is a TV, and the companies gave them the right to deliver to consumers' TV sets, regardless where they are. A household is a subscriber, or sub, and it can contain 10 TV sets, but TWC only pays for 1 sub, not 10. Sure they may charge you for different outlets in your home, but you can actually wire up as many devices in your home as you want- you're still one sub.
TWC believes your iPod, iPad, Zune, or Android phone are additional TV sets. I have to say I agree with the program suppliers on this. They signed an agreement for subs wired to the cable. When the cable company copies that programming, and delivers it via the Internet, that's a whole new delivery method, and should have a new agreement.
Now, I like what TWC did, just not the way they did it. It was a good idea executed badly. HBO launched their own mobile app as HBO Go. It's their programming, so it makes sense for them to create the app and deliver their own stuff, instead of letting TWC make a profit off of it.
TWC has filed for clarification of 'what is a TV' in the courts, so it will be interesting to see how that works out for them. What do you think? Is your phone a TV and you should be able to watch all the same programming on it as your TV wired to cable in your den?
