How timely. Shortly after sending out my previous blog do I find this terrific article in today's Wall Street Journal. The old maxim, if you can't beat em, join em, seems to have prevailed as Comcast begins to accept that for now the future is IP over EBIF. "Using the MIT campus as its proving ground, Comcast in coming months will try delivering TV channels using the same standard used to deliver data over the Internet, known as the Internet protocol, or IP. Like other cable providers, Comcast currently delivers channels over less versatile digital television technology that sends the video in streams to set-top boxes and isn't compatible with the Internet." And should it prove a successful test, cable interactivity and convergence could take a large progressive leap forward.
"The new technology could enable Comcast to deliver video service to any customer with an Internet connection, regardless of whether they live in an area covered by Comcast's cable system. A move to do so would shake up the pay-TV market, where cable systems largely operate in separate regions of the country, known as 'footprints.'" It is this very notion of competition across the entire USA by cable operators that causes competing satellite companies to worry. Their competitive edge is to merge Direct TV and Dish and compete with cable universally.
And a web based approached better gives the consumer what they seek most, content what they want, when they want, where they want, and how they want. No set top boxes, better interactive guides, easier set up and servicing. Overall, an IP approach delivers a better experience than EBIF. So push that test and start rolling out.
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