[mythtv-users] slightly OT: cable/dish vs ota question

[Brian Wood]

On Monday, October 04, 2010 08:24:30 am Eric Sharkey wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> >> The IP TV revolution hasn't hit yet.  I believe there will be huge
> >> changes in TV distribution over the course of the next 20 years.
> > 
> > More like 20 minutes.
> > 
> > There are already major changes,
> 
> Those are just the foreshadowings of things to come.  As you say, the
> infrastructure isn't there, either on the physical side (enough fiber
> to the home) or the legal/contractual side (tearing down the concepts
> of geographic regions of distribution).
> 
> It really will be at least 20 years before the default method of
> distribution will be some sort of IP multicast based method.

The major delays will be the dinosaur business types, who will not allow any changes that don't come along with business 
models that allow them to keep the monopolistic positions they hold now.

Watching things like Hulu are entertaining, they are just flailing around, trying to make money with modifications of the 
old business models. Asking me "is this ad relevant to you" seems pretty lame, and desperate. All they will get is an 
endless parade of "no"s. Of course I give no answer at all, why even tell them there is a person watching (which may be 
the real reason for such a stupid question).

The engineering can be done, but the business types seem incapable of any sort of innovation, they are too busy screwing 
customers with the present business model.

Anyone who thinks that Comcast will not give their own traffic priority over competitors is dreaming, and they have enough 
money to fight any sort of "net neutrality" legislation. But this is only a problem if the underlying infrastructure isn't 
capable of satisfying everyone, which it isn't, and won't be for a while.

But in the meantime, people like us can benefit.

I guess I'm too optimistic, HD has been around for decades, and it's only now getting into homes, albeit slowly.

So I guess you are correct.