Smalltalk with James Robertson

Between things like Netflix, AppleTV, Hulu (etc) - and YouTube, there's already a ton of video on the net. Now the live streaming side is heating up:

The rumors were true: after months — years, even — of speculation, YouTube is preparing to launch a full-fledged live streaming platform, enabling its content parters to stream their video directly to users in real-time. This will put the service in direct competition with the likes of Ustream, Justin.tv, and Livestream. We recently caught screenshots of a live streaming option in the wild that YouTube only made available to its politics-oriented channel CitizenTube. Obviously it has much bigger plans for the feature.

With so many options being created, I can't see how the traditional "appointment TV" model will survive....

Technorati Tags: streaming, live streaming, youtube

We'll know for sure later today, but this sounds pretty cool - 99 cent TV show rentals through iTunes:

As part of the Apple event Wednesday, News Corp.’s Fox and Walt Disney’s ABC networks are slated to be announced as offering 99-cent rentals of television shows through the iTunes store, according to people familiar with the matter.

TV isn't like music. With songs, I want to listen to stuff I like again. With TV, it's rare that I want to see the same episode again. Once I've seen it, I'm done - so buying an episode, or even a boxed DVD set, just doesn't make that much sense to me. Renting, on the other hand? Sure, especially for an episode I've missed, or for a show I'm wondering about.

Add in an inexpensive set top box, which is also supposed to be part of the plan - and it looks pretty good. Especially with Netflix coming to the AppleTV.

Technorati Tags: netflix, appletv, iTunes

TechCrunch thinks that the disintermediation of cable TV is about to hit the masses - because so many companies are now nibbling at the edges of that space, and looking to make a break: Google, Apple, Microsoft, NetFlix, Hulu - all hold a piece of the puzzle, and if they start to put those pieces together, the days of $100 + cable bills could go the way of record stores:

For most people, buying each television show you want to watch doesn’t make a lot of sense. But renting them for a cheaper price does. As a person who only is interested in a handful of shows, I expect such a solution to be a fraction of a fraction of the cost of my cable bill. I can’t wait.

That certainly describes me, and I think the current teenage/young adult cohort as well. The big things missing:

• Channel Surfing - admit it, lots of us spend a lot of time aimlessly looking for "something" to watch, before settling on something from the 500 channel plate
• Live sports

A large enough selection of items for quick and easy rental might deal with the former, but the latter will be a tougher nut to crack. Take college football and the NFL, for instance - huge followings, but the viewing is all live. Time shifting just isn't an option when it comes to sports. If and when internet based TV starts getting access to sports events, we'll know that cable tv has reached the downhill side of the mountain.

Technorati Tags: iptv

While I like NetFlix and Hulu, setting them up on the TV is still something of a chore - you have to hook up a Mac or PC, and then navigate the "not built for a TV screen" interface. So if Apple ships the next generation Apple TV based on what they've learned from the iPhone and iPad?

Expect to see an iPhone/Pad like marketplace for television applications. Video sharing/streaming/recording apps, interactive news apps, and of course games.

That's Kevin Rose speculating on what it could mean. If Apple makes that move, they'll get a real foothold, I think - people hate their cable boxes. The DVR features are sub-optimal, the controls for streaming from on demand are terrible - and there's a monthly charge for each of the crappy boxes.

Give people the ability to easily synch everything they have on their iPads and their TVs, along with casual gaming ad streaming - and an interface that doesn't get in the way - and I think you'll have a hit. I'll be looking at this with interest...

Technorati Tags: apple, iTV

Looks like Torchwood is coming back, even after they whacked most of the cast - the two survivors, Captain Jack and Gwen, are returning, but the rest is all new. Not a ton of details at Blastr, but it sounds cool.

Technorati Tags: scifi

Netflix is available on every major computing system - Macs, Windows, iPads - and on all the gaming systems - Wii, Xbox, and PS3. I think the on-demand thing is going to end up doing a lot of damage to pay per view on cable, and it's also going to change the way shows get created. The whole "weekly fix" thing is going to be harder to pull off as time goes by, and more and more people get sucked into the immediate gratification thing...

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If I could just stream episodes, and not have to worry about getting the (truly awful) Comcast DVR to work, I might move off cable completely. Hulu is trying to give me that option, with a monthly subscription plan:

In a first for Hulu, the shows will be accessible to subscribers on the iPhone, the iPad, and on some television sets. Soon it will also work through the PlayStation3 and Xbox video game consoles.

Between this, video games, and Netflix, I think we might be at a real inflection point for TV service. Like POTS phones, cable TV use has peaked, and will start to move downward.

Technorati Tags: hulu, subscription, streaming

We are about to learn just how terribly wrong Mark Cuban has been about net TV:

For $10 a month, viewers will reportedly have access to a wider selection of shows than the free, ad-supported version Hulu currently offers. The service would work on PCs and specialized devices such as the iPad, videogame consoles and set-top boxes. The company plans to test a version of this “Hulu Plus” subscription, an expected development, with select users as early as this month to find out whether they’ll will bite, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal and All Things Digital.

What Cuban doesn't quite get is the difference between an on demand model, where I as a consumer get to decide how much to pay, and the "all you can eat" model the cable company wants me to pay for. He's a billionaire; he doesn't even notice. The rest of us do.

SciFi Wire has a (to short!) trailer from HBO for their upcoming adaptation of "A Game of Thrones". Now if only Martin would get book 5 out...

Technorati Tags: fantasy, song of ice and fire

My wife was channel surfing this evening, and I had to ask her to pause - we ran across "Red Dead Redemption". At first I thought it was a trailer ad for the game, but it's a 30 minute movie - filmed inside the game engine:

But the story doesn't end there; instead of posting the video online or on the consoles the game is out on, the RDR short film will be debuting on Fox this Saturday at midnight. That's right: it's a damn television premiere.

The day is approaching when this kind of production will give actors a run for their money...

Technorati Tags: video games