A world where cable is irrelevant

Much has been said about the , but what about the cable business? Given all the noise about Internet technologies delivering video, it would be understandable if cable operators were concerned that their land-line distribution systems could be rendered irrelevant by wireless networks beaming custom-delivered programming directly to handheld players.

That could be one important reason behind the last month, especially if the cable giant was seeking direct access to Time Warner shows through the deal. And even if the cable companies themselves adopt Internet delivery technologies, they must still face the prospect of studios and other content owners going directly to viewers and bypassing traditional distribution channels altogether.

Blog community response:

"It's an excellent signal that I can expect more TV content to be offered up online, bringing me that much closer to being able to drop cable. The influence of TV is shrinking, as more and more people go to the web for their information."
--Eric's Blog

"Look at it this way using traditional television. Do people want to know or even care to know how a program is recorded, compressed, sent via cable, satellite or over the air to their set? No, they want to turn the set on and have instant gratification without caring how they got it."
--HD Beat

"If you think about the manner in which you subscribe to a podcast and apply that to a TV show, you can probably agree that itÂ’s easy to see offering beyond the single pricing for programs. If you add in the rest of the networks and possibly some cable access (Comedy Central)--even consider shows from premium networks like HBO--you can see a pretty intense disruption to how we collectively understand how TV works."
--atmaspheric | endeavors