Do you want to know what TV Everywhere means? I'll tell you first what it doesn't mean, a selection of on demand videos accessible on your laptop. It means the ability to watch all the same content you watch on your big TV set on other remote devices like tablets, laptops, and phones. Cable companies like dressing up a pig and calling it TV Everywhere, but for me, it is still a pig.
Dish is first out the gate with what will be truly TV Everywhere. "Dish Network is getting gadget-happy, with plans this fall to let subscribers with the new ViP 922 DVR or a SlingBox watch live TV and DVR recordings from iPads, iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android-based devices for no additional charge." Your local sports game on TV but you're out of town for a meeting; no problem, watch it on your iPad. Your kid playing Sunday afternoon soccer while the big football rivalry is on TV; no problem, watch it on your smartphone. Final results on American Idol, but you are still at the office; no problem. Combine Slingbox offering through Dish with all the other on demand shows already accessible on the web and your remote devices will be truly TV Everywhere.
Until cable really understands that consumers want to see their TV channels on remote devices, until they realize that consumers want better working DVRs (aka Tivo on RCN), until cable realizes that price matters (Netflix and Redbox lower prices), cable will lose its leadership position in the marketplace. They may currently have the market share, but it is being lost to the upstarts, the rivals, and others who have more innovative products. AOL and Blockbuster were once leader brands, too. But not anymore.
