Netflix Broadband TV Ushers In A New Era of Television

And a headache for cable and telephone companies. Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix:

We want to watch what we want, when we want, where we want, and discover the content how we want. So how well are we doing in the areas of “where,” “when,” “what” and “discoverability”? We’re about 15 percent of the way to “what you want,” 100 percent at “when you want,” 15 percent towards “where you want,” and 25 percent for “discover your want.” To get even farther we need a standard for connecting thousands of video web sites and many devices.

I watch (a disappointingly limited) Netflix on TiVo. They also have a partnership with Roku. With LG Electronics, they are going to announce a new range of broadband HDTVs that will have a small Linux-powered, Internet-friendly computer embedded that will be able to get video right off the Internet. LG will also embed Netflix’s instant streaming service in five new Blu-ray players.

Meanwhile, incumbent dinosaur cable and telephone companies are embracing tiered broadband, the enemy of innovation.