Forbes.com had a fascinating interview last week with ZillionTV CEO Mitch Berman about the future of television. In a nutshell, Berman explains, there are a myriad of technologies and models out there--cable, satellite, fiber; streams, P2P, downloads; subscription, ad-supported, pay per use--the winning combination will focus on the consumer experience.
One obstacle will be separating the Internet-TV experience from a PC. Netflix is already trying to do this, and I often stream my Netflix Instant Queue over my Xbox to my television instead of watching POTV. (That's plain old TV.) As Forbes notes, however, to get my Netflix queue in order and add movies to it, I still need the web interface. This results in a "fragmented user experience." This actually doesn't much bother me, since I usually have my laptop in lap when I watch TV. But I can see how it isn't optimal for someone with a desktop in an upstairs home office and an Xbox in the downstairs family room.
The second obstacle, as Berman sees it, is personalization:
One obstacle will be separating the Internet-TV experience from a PC. Netflix is already trying to do this, and I often stream my Netflix Instant Queue over my Xbox to my television instead of watching POTV. (That's plain old TV.) As Forbes notes, however, to get my Netflix queue in order and add movies to it, I still need the web interface. This results in a "fragmented user experience." This actually doesn't much bother me, since I usually have my laptop in lap when I watch TV. But I can see how it isn't optimal for someone with a desktop in an upstairs home office and an Xbox in the downstairs family room.
The second obstacle, as Berman sees it, is personalization:
As the article notes, that's a vision of the future that may still be a ways off; and it may not ultimately be the exact experience that evolves from consumer demand. But the evolution of television is certainly well underway, as the universe of options for consuming television programming continues expanding.
Berman's description of an ideal world of TV would be unlimited video-on-demand, perfectly personalized to the consumer taste, and with advertisers able to push ads precisely to align with that taste. Also, the delivery infrastructure will take into account the ISP's interests, and the box will not be charged to the consumer.
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