en-route back from SXSW today, and while sitting at the airport in Dallas I thought I would use the time to share some thoughts on one of my favorite sessions.
the session was titled the same as this post - 'the fight for your TV' and consisted of a panel with Mark Cuban, owner of HDNet, and Avner Ronen, owner of Boxee. if you are not familiar with boxee's proposition then read more here.
the two come at the future of TV from very different perspectives and pretty much disagreed about everything. Cuban believes the current cable model is here to stay for the foreeseeable future while Ronen believes the internet is changing how people access TV and that in essence content should be available to people online, FREE. the debate was incredibly lively with Cuban repeatedly enquiring as to how much revenue the one million subs of boxee generate. the answer he already knew, was zero.
whatever their individual opinions are of what the future holds for this medium it left me with no doubt that TV is NOT dead. sure the format maybe changing and the ability to watch TV on the go via mobile or new devices like the iPad is bringing about a different way that we access content, but the idea of receiving long form content sponsored by brands is here to stay for some time. content owners and publishers have no reason to change that. propositions like hulu, boxee, and YouTube have a long way to go to develop profitable business models. in fact rumor has it that hulu is moving towards a subscription based model themselves as they are unable to generating enough revenue from their advertising model.
interactive TV has been something that has be bandied about as the future of TV for as long as i can remember. using your remote control to interact, BUT true interactive TV is just that – imagine mixing the voting element of POP Idol with a show like 24. the technology is here today that can enable this capability.
Cuban can be a bit annoying at times, but he does have a point - he has made a ton of money building and selling businesses and the other guys haven’t. i'd love to here other opinions on this subject - i'd imagine there would be polar perspectives out there.
since the debate both of the panelists have followed up with posts on their respective blogs which you can read here:
Mark Cuban - Don't waste the Internet on TV - Protect the Future of the Internet
Avner Ronen - The future of TV