I’m a Comcast subscriber. I have their “Triple Play” bundle, but the cable company’s creep up every month (and, in fact, leapt up instead of creeping last month), so I’m considering making a change. Perhaps the future Apple TV would be my impetus to switch.
Silicon Alley Insider (http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-itv-metered-broadband-2010-8?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29) says the rumored rev of the Apple TV (which some think will be redubbed iTV should at least make a lot of people excited about the idea of using their TVs as living-room computers, especially for watching Internet video on their TVs, via the likes of Netflix, Hulu Plus, ABC, and MLB.com apps.
“This should scare America’s big Internet service providers, such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T, and Verizon,” the article says. “And it may finally give them the reason they need to scrap all-you-can-eat Internet access, and start charging for access based on metered service, monthly allotments, and overage charges.”
What’s more, this weekend Digg’s Kevin Rose posted (http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2010/8/21/why-apples-itv-will-change-everything.html) that the next rev of the iTV will replace cable and satellite services. Ross thinks Apple’s iAds, content producers (eg. ABC/NBC/etc.) can directly monetize and distribute their content and that this will eventually destroy the television side of the cable and satellite industry, as your only requirement to access these on-demand stations will be an Internet connection.
Rose is also excited about the next Apple TV as he thinks it will support iOS TV apps (video sharing/streaming/recording apps, interactive news apps, games, etc.), FaceTime video communication a la the iPhone 4 and will see the iPad turn into the preferred input device for the Apple TV.
I hope he’s right. There are certainly a lot of us out there tired of getting gouged by the cable companies. We’re looking at our alternatives, so perhaps Apple will offer us a viable one.
— Dennis Sellers