As my Comcast system upgraded to digital, they cleverly rendered my old VCR's multi-channel tuner useless, since anything I recorded had to come through my television's feed from the digital cable tuner.
Thus, I lost the ability to watch one program while recording another. Stripped of every American's God-given right to do this, I recently purchased a TiVo unit for simultaneous digital video recording, and all the other benefits of the service.
In particular, I wanted to also stream instant NetFlix content to my television, rather than simply my desktop computer.
As I have using the TiVo unit for a month or so, I began to consider how it can and probably will morph into a general purpose web content player.
For example, within a week of setting up the TiVo unit, it underwent a few automated software upgrades, integrating the NetFlix feed more seamlessly into the menu.
My TiVo accesses NetFlix through a wireless adapter which gives it access to my home computer network. While I can't program NetFlix choices on the TiVo controller, TiVo can access my NetFlix account on its own to retrieve my selections.
Thus, it would seem only a matter of time before TiVo provides a feature on its own website that would let me either type in my preferred websites, or simply import my web browser bookmarks, so that I can access this menu on my television screen via TiVo's content menu.
Once I can do this, TiVo would let me watch various programming websites, such as HuLu, as well as NBC's own content, delayed, on its website.
As I discussed this with my business partner Sunday morning, I remarked that, once TiVo does this, I am just one step away from cancelling my cable television service.
The only missing content would be my two primary news channels, CNBC and Fox. Once I could stream these, I'd be ready to cut the cable connection, slicing my monthly content delivery bill in half.
I went exploring yesterday, and found that CNBC offers a premium content subscription of roughly $10/month which provides a video stream of their channel. So that fits the model about which I hypothesized over two years ago in a post about the eventual disintermediation of cable by individual channels offering separate internet-based viewing for a monthly fee.
Fox has some video streams, but I haven't yet found one that matches what is broadcast on their channel live. It's probably there somewhere. If not, they surely can do what CNBC is doing, at their whim.
So there you have it. Just about two and a half years after my post regarding the necessary hardware and software for television viewing of internet web content, it's basically here. One software tweak by TiVo, and it's done. I'll have TiVo for access to online weekly programming, including news programs, either free or paid, and Netflix for my movie content.
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