SPOTLIGHT: Battle for the TV

Doug Mohney — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:34:07 -0400

There's a war over who will supply online video to the home TV starting to build, with three major players and lots of others wanting to buy in says GigaOm.

Amazon, Apple, and Netflix are named as the front-runners for their brand name recognition, deep pockets, and infrastructure. Amazon has a large user base, a new VOD service and an "online locker" model to store purchased movies, but had trouble on its first VOD go round and doesn't currently offer HD. Nextflix is moving out of its DVD mailing model to online streaming, but it only has 10,000ish titles and doesn't have HD.

Other players include Microsoft and Sony's game consoles doubling as home streaming boxes, TVs with Internet functionality built-in, and the cable and telecom companies who control the pipes to the end-user.

For more:
- GigaOm draws the battle lines for TV's future

Related articles:
Netflix: 20 Million Future Streaming Customers, DVD Peaking
Amazon Joins the Instant-on VOD Club

Vod Service

SPOTLIGHT: Battle for the TV