ShareThisSALT LAKE CITY - TV through the Internet will be a big part of our future, but how much and how soon no one knows for sure. The answers, though, could be coming to a smart phone screen near you sooner than later.
With Google's recent announcement of an alliance to develop Internet TV technology, and Apple poised to jump in with a new version and Microsoft making big investments in the area, there is a lot of weight being thrown behind the idea that you can stream television to a multitude of screens, including smart phones.
Even retail giant Wal-Mart wants a piece with its purchase of online video service Vudu, though smaller companies see an opportunity, too, including several in Utah.
Add to this the fact that TV transmission services already are available from Verizon, ATandT and Clearwire, and it's evident the TV world as we know it will be changing.
The only thing missing at this point is a critical mass of viewers, but that could be changing soon, too, if only gradually.
"There's massive money at stake," said Peter Csathy, CEO of Utah-owned Sorenson Media, which has developed software that codes video for Web streaming. "The current cable-operator business model is vulnerable, so they're fighting tooth-and-nail to retain the world as it is today."
As more televisions come equipped to stream from the Internet, and TV programming becomes more available on computer screens or mobile phones, a period of chaos in the TV industry may be on our viewing schedule.
The old titans of TV transmissions, cable and satellite companies, will be challenged by any number of entities capable of delivering services over a high-speed Internet connection, including telephone companies, sports leagues, independent producers, really just about anyone who can create content that viewers want.
The traditional TV networks face that same competition even as they have the ability to bypass cable and satellite (and even online provider Hulu) to stream directly to viewers. Netflix is offering Internet transmissions of movies and competes with HBO.
"The pay-for-content guys like cable and satellite have this big war on their hands," said Steven G. Jones, an executive with Midvale-based Broadcast International's CodecSys division, which is a Sorenson competitor. Traditional content providers also are "scared to death."
Because of a convergence of technologies, from software to compress large digital video files that can be streamed through broadband Internet connections to smart phone innovations to the increased speed of the nation's wireless networks, there is no shortage of screens on which Americans can consume TV.
That's led to the "TV anywhere, anytime" mantra, which says that programs will be delivered to whatever machine you want at whatever time you want.
Trouble is that's been the mantra for some time, and it has yet to be fully realized, said analyst Dan Rayburn, executive vice president of streamingmedia.com and also principal analyst with the market research firm Frost and Sullivan.
"Everyone wants to talk about technology, but the problem is the business problem," he said.
Consumers have been slow to adopt services such as Comcast's Xfinity TV or Apple TV, and many are unlikely to be willing to buy another round of new TV sets or devices that are equipped for viewing over the Internet, he said.
Rayburn thinks it might be four to five years before Internet TV challenges traditional providers, yet key players in the high-tech industry clearly think otherwise.
Last month Google announced an initiative to bring Internet-connected devices to living rooms later this year. Joining it were Intel, Sony, Logitech, Best Buy, DISH Network and Adobe.
Although the Apple TV device that connects televisions to the Internet has not sold well, websites that follow the company report a new version is in the works based on the operating system of the popular iPhone 4. Apple also recently debuted a Mac Mini with an outlet that can plug into a high-definition TV, allowing users to stream video.
In January, Microsoft announced its latest version of a software platform called Mediaroom that enables programming providers to stream any number of television services to TV sets, computers and mobile phones. The Xbox 360 is part of the Microsoft strategy in which the software giant is looking for ways to enhance the TV experience for consumers, said Ben Huang, director of marketing for Microsoft Mediaroom.
"If you look at the top levels of the organization, there's a couple of key investment areas across the company, and what we're doing in entertainment devices is definitely one of those areas," he said.
Cable and satellite companies make their money largely from fees to subscribers, while networks and others who produce TV programs receive revenue from advertising and from cable and satellite providers. Internet TV has the potential to diminish all of those revenue sources.
Sumner Redstone, the owner of CBS and Viacom, said on a recent visit to Salt Lake City that his companies view Internet TV as a new opportunity, and he played down the threat to their finances.
"Every time there's been a new technology it's only expanded the market," he said. "That's the history of new technologies and the entertainment industry."
broadband connection," he said.
(E-mail reporter Tom Harvey at tharvey(at)sltrib.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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