The Supreme Court and the Future of Television
A small startup company, Aereo uses a specially designed server antenna to gather over-the-air TV signals and rent them to individual users for a small fee. American Broadcasting Companies (ABC) is backed by CBS, NBC, FOX and the US Justice Department in saying, hold on just one second. The lawsuit which has reached the highest court in the country says that Aereo is acting out of line by not paying the hefty retransmission fees which cable and satellite companies pay to broadcasting networks.
The little Brooklyn-based TV-streaming tech startup Aereo holds the potential to transform the traditional broadcasting business model and, according to Time magazine, “fundamentally reshaping the way the TV industry operates.”
Why a Cable Merger Can Change Satellite, Too
A merger between cable heavyweights Time Warner Cable and Comcast threatens to create something of a cable monopoly with definitive pricing for TV and Internet services which may have implications for satellite customers, too. The Consumerist writes that “a tie-up between the two largest terrestrial cable companies could have far-reaching consequences for all pay-TV subscribers.”
But sites like http://www.saveontvdirect.com/direct-tv/Colorado/ say that a more “competitive landscape” can bring some great changes. DirecTV explains that it will continue searching for positive options for strengthening the company over “the long term.” Some of these changes have already taken place with “substantial online content offerings” delivered to the user with both satellite TV and online streaming availability. A merger might bring just the right competition to drive necessary steps for the “long term survival of satellite TV.”
TVs That Talk to You
Earlier this April, Apple released its newest version of Apple TV with new code indicating that in the future Apple TV will include Siri voice assistant. This is set to compete against the Amazon Fire TV which also talks and is geared “for customers on the high-end of the video-streaming market,” reports the LA Times.
Both devices will store media and stream services like Netflix or Pandora. The Fire TV offers the additional services of voice search and video game play. Predictions believe that Apple’s next version will also include voice search with the same Siri technology as the iPhone. Both devices also run for $99 per unit.
As the nature of media and entertainment continues to shift with new technology, it will prove exciting to see what happens next in the changing face of television.
Image from www.mnn.com