Will online video and TV eventually merge?

Since TelcoTV is this week, set-top/online video convergence is worth discussing. By the way, Dan O'Shea is providing some interesting coverage on the keynotes and major announcements at our sister site, FierceIPTV, that you should all check out.

Several big name companies have announced plans to stream movies directly to set-top boxes in the past few weeks, with Netflix leading the charge and racking up partnerships and distribution deals. Sling Media probably has the model closest to true convergence, as it is actively working on making online video content available on HDTV's, TV content available online, and both online video and TV content available on mobile devices. Even old-line Blockbuster has taken the set-top plunge.

With myriad transcoding standards and streaming platforms available, compatibility issues always arise when discussion of migrating online video content to big television screens occurs.

You also have to think that YouTube, Hulu and especially Veoh, as it seeks to increase market share, will be researching and perhaps developing solutions that bring the huge inventory of online video to the TV with clarity and integrity.

All the big CDN's would have a stake in the move to integrate the two, currently separate, media. Akamai, Brightcove, Level 3 and others could see big upticks in hours of videos streamed if consumers begin to watch large amounts of online video on their home televisions. Those that also have video platforms or players could tweak them for use on TVs as well.

Of course, traditional TV networks, both cable and broadcast, would stand to lose considerably from the advent of a solution that makes other content widely available on TVs. The competition for the TV time from free content would likely drive down the ad rates TV networks can charge. If online video companies start stealing eyeballs from the Big Four, expect some not-so-friendly words or even lawsuits, as the TV companies defend their turf.

In addition to the traditional companies in the online video space, you can't count the Telco IPTV bundled providers out, because they already have a connection with large customer bases, and could add online video-to-TV services as just another part of the bundle.

I'd be very interested, as always, to hear from you about your thoughts on this issue, how soon it might happen, will it ever catch on and the direction the adoption of online video content will take in regards to viewing the content on home TVs. 

- Pete