TV via Internet

Filed in archive Technology on June 11, 2004

I still wonder why this step takes so long. Radio has found a way into the Internet. At home I haven't touched local radio stations for months, internet radio has far more selection to offer when it comes in CD quality. Video streaming via Video on Demand comes in perfect quality, so why TV makes so little foray into this area? Advertisement based Free-TV does not even have to change or customize the business model streaming through the web. Premiere a German subscription-only station has announced plans to stream via web but is not in a hurry. This is a much cheaper way to deliver the signal compared to the complicated Premiere set-top-box.

Now TiVo makes headlines with "bridging" the analog/digital divide:

"The new TiVo technology, which will become a standard feature in its video recorders, will allow users to download movies and music from the Internet to the hard drive on their video recorder. Although the current TiVo service allows users to watch broadcast, cable or satellite programs at any time, the new technology will make it possible for them to mix content from the Internet with those programs."