The future of TV is here now
It’s the end of the cable box.
Click here for reuse options!Late last week, Comcast announced a new program that allows makers of smart TVs and other Internet-based video services to have full access to your cable programming without the need for a set-top box. Instead, the content will flow directly to the third-party device as an app, including all the channels and program guide.
The Xfinity TV Partner Program will initially be offered on new smart TVs from Samsung, as well as Roku streaming boxes. But the program, built on open Internet-based standards including HTML5, is now open to other device manufacturers to adopt.
As video services move from hardware to software, the future of the traditional set-top box looks increasingly grim. With this announcement, Comcast customers may soon eliminate the need for an extra device,potentially saving hundreds of dollars in fees.
Copyright 2016 Liberaland
33 responses to The future of TV is here now
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Mensa Member April 25th, 2016 at 20:39
>> The future of TV is here now
What a non sequitur!
No matter — I’m not sure there is a future for dedicated TVs. All our screens – big or small — will be multi-purpose. “TV” will just be one function among many.
CHOCOL8MILK April 25th, 2016 at 21:36
Remember when this was the future? Remote controlled Zenith TV! My parents owned one, it was amazing (at that time). 5 to 7 buttons on a remote, crazy confusing!!!
Mensa Member April 25th, 2016 at 22:34
Are you thinking of the “Zenith Space Command”?
My memory is that it was a marvel of its time. No wires! Like magic!
Hirightnow April 25th, 2016 at 23:48
My parents had a remote control, too; it was manufactured in 1964 and now moderates sometimes on a liberal website.
Roctuna April 26th, 2016 at 07:41
How many buttons on the ’64 model?
Hirightnow April 26th, 2016 at 09:45
Actually, it was voice-activated, although it had one “button” by design.
(Interesting fact: through the years, many MANY people have tried to push its buttons, but not to change the TV channel.)
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 11:52
Voice command..
“get up and change the channel”
“can you turn that down”?
Hirightnow April 26th, 2016 at 14:34
Yup. Patiently waiting by the side of the TV to turn the knobs{clunk-clunk-clunk}, tune in the UHF {clikliklikliklikliklik”NOT SO FAST YOU’LL BREAK IT!“clik—clik—clik—“Oh, faster than that, now!“} and fine-tune the UHF channel {SOUND FILE statictovoicetostatic.wav MISSING}.
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 21:37
:)
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 11:53
Voice activated wasn’t it?
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Warman1138 April 25th, 2016 at 22:23
It’s been referred to as an ”idiot box” for a reason.
Mensa Member April 25th, 2016 at 22:29
When I see a room full of people fiddling obsessively with their phones — I think “smart phones” are the true idiot boxes.
Buford2k11 April 25th, 2016 at 22:31
or maybe mobile idiot boxes….
Mensa Member April 25th, 2016 at 23:07
I feel like such an old fart when I complain about people and their phones.
But, I’m totally judgmental of people who sit in public places and goof-around with their phones rather than live life in real-time.
Hirightnow April 25th, 2016 at 23:49
Say what you want, pally, but those candies ain’t gonna crush themselves…
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 11:48
LIOL~!!!
Mensa Member April 26th, 2016 at 15:13
He. He.
My kid plays something with jewels, I think. I’ve gotten her to admit that she does use the phone to avoid social interaction. I think most of her generation does.
Hirightnow April 26th, 2016 at 15:27
Funny, that; we’re a social animal, but so easily drawn into introversion(?)…
I, of course, blame Obama.
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 11:47
Bingo~!
Buford2k11 April 25th, 2016 at 22:32
I remember the awe of Walt Disney in Living Color…now I am cable free, satellite free, totally streaming…and loving it…I just signed up for our new fiber optic service…the ISP that has held a long time monopoly has been driven from our lands and mountains…well not quite yet, but I am at the top of the list for the new fiber optic service…I can’t even imagine the speeds and bandwidth…my photos are around 30mbs apiece, and at .7mbps up load speeds……..oh my…the very thought of real internet…
Mensa Member April 25th, 2016 at 22:49
I’m a cable-cutter, too, but I’ve gone the other direction. I hacked together an old-school outdoor antenna from Home Depot parts.
With this, I get crystal clear, free digital TV. (most of the time, anyway)
For binge watching, I borrow the DVDs. from the library.
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 11:46
No Frills antenna TV for me as well…
Got sick of that ever rising cable bill for a lot of crap I never watched..
I would rarely ever sit and watch an entire TV show..
It was just kind of on in the background.
Mensa Member April 26th, 2016 at 15:10
An indoor antenna didn’t work for me. But, I found a well-rated outdoor antenna at Amazon for $20.
I live in the city limits and we have a pretty good signal, so I’m not sure this would work for country folks.
bpollen April 26th, 2016 at 04:37
Can they do something about the quality of the choices they are making so easy to get?
Do we need more Lifestyles of the Rich and Pretentious? Inbred Hick Towing shows? Amish hookers? Honey Boo Boo Interventions? Should it be easier to get Kim Kardashian is Konstipated? Flipping Prisons for Profit? Survivors on the Back Lot of MGM? Brood Mares for Jebus?
Larry Schmitt April 26th, 2016 at 05:20
That’s the real issue, not how we get the programs, but the content. With cable, you have “hundreds” of channels. But that includes over a dozen shopping channels, Spanish language, religious, many dozens of channels of music I have no interest in, premium channels and sports channels I have no interest in paying extra for, “The Learning Channel” which teaches me nothing, Discovery Channel which discovers nothing, History Channel which contains no history, SyFy which has more beyond the grave crap than science fiction. How can there be so many “choices” when there’s absolutely nothing worth watching? If it weren’t for AMC’s original series (not the zombies) I wouldn’t watch anything.
bpollen April 26th, 2016 at 05:51
I find some stuff I like. There is just so much that makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with the viewing public. But since “reality” shows are relatively cheap to make, they are going to beat that equine skeleton until it’s just a chalk stain.
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
— H.L. Mencken
Roctuna April 26th, 2016 at 07:48
Now that the Murdoch/Borg have assimilated the Nat Geo channel that’s going down the tubes too. Unreal “reality” shows need no writers, just a producer and some cameras. Keeps cost down and profits up.
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 11:41
Exactly~!
Roctuna April 26th, 2016 at 07:46
Crackin’ me up to start the morning!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7wy7fzyK1Q
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 11:37
Right On~!
Hirightnow April 27th, 2016 at 08:09
“…, I have no idea what we were aiming for in this one outside of some
vague sense of “hipness” and an attempt at irony. Never my strong suit,
it reads now to me as a break from our usual approach and kind of a
playful misfire.”-Bruce Springsteen, speaking about “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On).
But damn,I love this song.
StoneyCurtisll April 26th, 2016 at 11:40
Thats exactly why I Cut the Cable~!
That and the $125 a month for TV and Broadband…(kept the broadband) got rid of all those channels I never watched..