Your recent article (“The Fight for Streaming TV“) focused on tech start-up Aereo to discuss the wider issue of providing a cheaper, more accessible live TV experience to mobile devices and computers. This approach only solves one side of the problem faced by consumers demanding more low-cost, accessible options for their TV viewing experience. What about adding streaming, gaming and other rich interactive services to ‘dumb’, yet larger, TV screens? Before they can even consider ‘cutting the cord’ with their cable providers, consumers need to know that they can buy low-cost technology that affordably and easily adds a wide range of popular media channels (like HBO Go, Hulu, Netflix, Crackle or Vudu) as well as unrestricted access to hundreds of thousands of apps and games, to their existing TVs.
Despite the growing popularity of portable devices, including tablets and smartphones, television sets will always be a primary source of large-screen entertainment. And just as consumer mobile devices need access to mainstream broadcast entertainment, so today’s home TV screens must be more than just TVs that rely on expensive cable contracts for content. Sure, people want to cut that cable cord and stream interactive content without monthly bills, long-term contract commitments or hidden fees—anytime and anywhere. But that all starts in the living room, even years from now.
Adam McBride, CEO of Equiso, Cambridge, MA