Over last decade top tech has tried its best to control tv without much success. Even greatest technology visionary Steve Jobs couldn't crack it in his life time and his comment that he has probably figured it out caused lasting speculation across multiple industries.
Why is this a hard nut to crack? For one, it’s not just a device. TV represents the best of at least three industries Telecom, Media and Consumer Electronics. Second, it’s so deeply entangled with our life style that we just can't get over it. Third and the most important is the continuous innovation that keeps other technologies always playing a catch up game. No wonder 90 % of us still use TV as our main source of infotainment.
A cross industry package
Product packages that integrate multiple industries are generally very sticky. For example Cars are so popular coz they leverage the best of automotive engineering, Consumer electronics, Gas distribution, Roads, Geo Positioning and convenience. Similarly TV leverages the huge telecom network of free to air distribution, cable providers and satellite distributors. It brings together best of talent at ABC, NBC, Sony, Fox CNN and many more studios. It represents the single most used way to consume and support sports. It represents the cutting edge of engineering at Samsung, Sharp, Sony and many more. It employs the best of the advertising production and distribution.
Life Style
Few hours of a day on some days of a week, you just want to sit with a beer and watch a game. You don’t want to be social for few minutes. Break away from clutter of your own life. In the process, Americans spend more time watching food network then actual cooking.
Hardest to change is the life style. A life style change occurs over a generation. TV became mainstay of entertainment with formation of ABC and NBC in forties and there after kept on increasing its grasp on our evening hours thru more and more soaps, sitcoms and sports. TV is part of our unwinding routine. The cool thing about TV is its dumbness. And a great companion it is, when you don’t want to be active. The best family activity is to watch tv together pretty much as important as having a dinner together.
Cutting Edge
Few would argue that TV industry always comes up with something just when innovation seems to be stalling. The hype over LCD and Plasma wasn't even over when LEDs started showing up. Who had imagined that you could hang a sixty inch TV on a regular wall? Just when we thought we have seen all the dimensions of TV, they introduced 3D. The innovation is not only on the device alone; today's TV network is capable of transmitting 1080p24 quality over the air. Same quality video over an IP network using sophisticated compression will take almost 3-4 GB per good movie. Given that most of the ISPs now cap the data at some 250 Gigs a month, this means internet alternative actually limits you around 125 hrs. of viewing time per month assuming you are not uploading any pics to Facebook :-)