Xbox 360 Teams Up With Entertainment Leaders to Transform TV
microsoft.com
microsoft.com
If I were willing to pay $80/mo for cable, I wouldn't be on Xbox streaming it.
What if the viewing experience on the Xbox is better? Easier access to related clips and content, more interactive features like social interactions or group viewing? An easier to use guide (get rid of your remote and use hand gestures and voice commands to control your viewing). More HD content? (Cable Ops are quickly running out of shared bandwidth for more broadcast channels, this would allow for more HD offerings)
These are the features that the Xbox will offer to enhance the experience over what you'd get viewing on your cable box.
I'm not sure if you've used it, but HBO released an excellent app for the iPad called HBO GO. I can watch my shows on demand by supplying my Xfinity login and password. This is another example of a game changing piece of software that relies on an Xfinity account.
Right now you're wondering, "How is this a game changer? I still need a cable subscription!"
It's a game changer if you assume that the success of Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc are a foregone conclusion, and that the cable networks were going to take this lying down. This represents a pretty major shift for cable companies.
Historically, the cable business model was to buy channels from content providers and resell them to a customer subscriber base at a mark-up, along with revenue from local advertising stuffed in to their line up. The cable companies had a lot of leverage in this scenario, because they were responsible for delivering the 'last mile' to the customer. That copper coax coming in to your house was like a ball and chain preventing customers from going anywhere. Satellite companies are in the same spot. They have multi-billion dollar satellites in geostationary orbits. Not easy to replace.
The internet is the first big challenger to this model. With an internet connection, anyone can stream content in to your home, and they don't have to pay for the last mile. This is the crux of the net neutrality debate. Cable companies and content providers don't like this new world order, because they can't protect their high prices.
Back to this whole XBox partnership. Remember that cable providers don't have to offer the best product, they just need to make customers' lives comfortable enough that they don't cut the cord. I was delighted to see that the HBO GO app worked easily. Likewise with the Xfinity TV app. They recently added On Demand streaming capability. Two very large incentives for moving to a service like Netflix just went out the window. I can get the content on my iPad now and keep paying the same thing, where as before, I couldn't get it at all.
I'm not saying it's a better deal, but I am saying that the better deal isn't everything. There's a high level of uncertainty in non-tech-savvy users. "Will I be able to use this thing?" "Will it work like my TV used to?" These are important questions for consumers. Xfinity is in a good position, because they can roll these services out to consumers and let them try them along side their traditional television safety blanket.
I am not alone in this, I am willing to pay this provider, I am not willing to pay for the idiotic bundle inflated priced plans the cable provider offers that include hundreds of channels i never ever watch.
Not too revolutionary as you still have to deal with the cable company and continue feeding their deep pockets.
If you do need that. I'd imagine that you would, given the situation with Netflix, HULU and ESPN. But I didn't see confirmation either way in the article.
It is like everyone with a gym membership started showing up at the same time.
The basic idea is that if you can prove you're already a cable subscriber then they're willing to stream you content via IP to certain devices, within a strict set of parameters. For example if you're connected to the internet through your Comcast provided cable modem you can stream to your tablet device, or perhaps in this case the Xbox.
MS is not doing anything here without the cable operators permission they're working very closely with them to fit within the parameters they set. Its the only way they're able to launch this service. (Compare the lack of success GoogleTV has had which tried to go completely around the cable operators)
The first company to finally drive that initiative home will become filthy, filthy rich overnight.