According to a Nov. 29 Reuters report (which quotes unnamed sources), options on the table apparently include establishing a "virtual cable operator," which would port content to subscribers over the Internet. Other proposals include offering individual channels, such as Showtime, or content-categories, including sports. Although it goes largely unmentioned in the article, one can presume (based on the competition, at least) that any Microsoft platform would include access to a variety of apps and streaming services.
Reuters' sources suggest such a service might not arrive for another year. Microsoft generally doesn't comment on rumors, although some of its partners tend to leak like sieves with extra-large holes; if any of these plans gain headway, expect to start hearing about it within a few months.
Having saturated traditional venues such as laptops and desktops, tech companies are turning their focus to the living room. Apple recently launched its revamped Apple TV, which offers streaming rentals: $4.99 HD movies (the same day they appear on DVD) and 99-cent TV shows. Google TV also seeks to weld traditional television and Web content. Both platforms are boosted by the presence of Netflix, which now offers a streaming-content-only subscription, and a handful of other apps.
As I mentioned the other day on eWEEK, some enterprising souls have already cut the cord on traditional cable, in favor of Apple TV, Netflix and/or a combination of other streaming services (others have given up entirely on screened entertainment, a step I can't quite take--I dig The Walking Dead too much). If that trend continues (and given the increasing presence of broadband in people's homes, I can't imagine why not), then services such as Google TV and Apple TV could enjoy a substantial uptick in revenues.
Of course, as my colleague Clint Boulton pointed out over the weekend, Google TV could also remain a niche item, favored by techies and pretty much nobody else. And Apple TV has traditionally suffered from a middling adoption rate, leading executives to term it the company's "hobby." So there's also a chance that "wired TV" won't see rapid adoption in the near term.
But Microsoft also can't take the chance that this television model isn't the wave of the future. The company's experiences in smartphones and consumer tablets both demonstrate what happens when you fail to introduce a viable competitor into a white-hot market.
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