Tivo encodes TV shows off the air onto a harddrive so you can watch it later. If someone were to build a TV box that would just stream the content as it’s broadcast, we could all get rid of our cable connections for good. We could get exactly the same service, but over the internet instead of over cable. We all just need an internet connection, a streaming DVR and a TV.

I predict that the first company to make deals with the broadcast companies to stream the same content that they’re broadcasting over cable to broadcast it over the internet in real-time will win the TV/cable box/DVR war.

I could do this. Just build a few dozen PCs, record and encode all channels in a streaming fashion. Chop the shows up according to the TV guide. Offer the shows as they’re being encoded for streaming over the internet (commercials and all). Sell the service for $9.99/mo and give half the profits to cable and networks. The cable companies wouldn’t go for it because they make most of their money from cable. (My Comcast bill is $50 for internet and $85 for cable - which is probably similar to most of you out there) But TV networks (the people who produce the content and should be paid for it) might be game since they have a way to monetize their content in the modern era compared to the old-school methods that they’re using now that will go away soon. The difficult part would be the handshaking and deal-making that would be necessary.

The need for “as fast as broadcast” is necessary - mainly for people who do the water-cooler talk the next day about their favorite shows. If they can’t get the show at the same time the rest of the world gets it (aka, bittorrent or the web-versions of the network shows that are released 24-72 hours after the initial broadcast), they’re left out of the water-cooler talk and might get the secret twist to their favorite show via gossip instead of seeing it on TV.

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