Netflix’s Hastings touts TV Web browsers
By Danny King -- Video Business,11/13/2008
NOV. 13 | Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said TV remotes with pointer-like devices are the key to a jump in Web-video streaming through TVs and estimated that such devices might be available to the public as soon as next year.
Speaking today at the NewTeeVee Live conference in San Francisco, Hastings said pointers will allow people to use Web browsers on TVs just as they use them on personal computers. The alternative would be to wait for electronic-components makers to agree upon a single Web-navigation standard for TVs, which Hastings estimated could take decades.
“Letting go of the tab keys and going to the mouse was incredibly revolutionary 20 years ago,” said Hastings. “The real breakthrough will be in the remote. The videogame generation is very comfortable with a pointer on the screen.”
Netflix, Apple, Amazon.com and Blockbuster are among content distributors counting on technological advancements that allow consumers to download or video-stream movies or TV shows directly to TVs to unleash a flood of demand for digital content as demand for packaged media flattens. Some analysts have said annual revenue from digital content could more than double over the next five years, as DVD sales remain in the $25 billion range.
“Everyone’s going to have to do customer interfaces for each device” if the Web-browser solution isn’t adopted, Hastings said. “It’s slowing down the market tremendously.”
Netflix in particular has been trying to create a broader market for its video-streaming product by recently reaching agreements allowing owners of LG Electronics and Samsung Blu-ray Disc players, TiVo digital video recorders and Microsoft Xbox videogame consoles to use the components to stream Netflix's digital content directly to TVs.
Web interface through the TV within the next few years will require customers to have Internet-capable set-top boxes such as Apple TV and Netflix Player by Roku, which Netflix launched in May, because TV makers won’t be quick to build Web capability into their sets, Hastings said. He estimated that TV makers will start regularly integrating Web capability two or three years from now.
Additionally, cable companies are the multi-channel service operators most likely to benefit from the projected jump in Web-video consumption through TVs, Hastings said.
“People who have the biggest pipes are going to do great,” Hastings said. “Cable has by far the best architecture.”
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| Submitted by: | Jim Gable 11/17/2008 2:22:28 PM PT |
| Location: | Virginia |
| Occupation: | Consultant |
This exists already on some products. Hillcrest Labs is well known for its pointing remote which is precise, stable and easy to use -- making pointing on a big TV easy and practical. Anyone can try it out now on the recently introduced Kodak Theatre Player which does things with pictures, music and web content that is not possible on other products. And the pointer alone is available from Logitech on the MX Air Mouse. This is exactly like putting mouse on the big screen TV and makes traditional remotes look like DOS versus Mac.
| Submitted by: | Bill Sheppard 11/15/2008 12:49:23 AM PT |
This is a bad idea. Browsers are very poor navigational paradigms for television, not to mention that they require significant processing and memory resources (to run well), aren't particularly compelling without native plugins like Flash, and are usually riddled with security holes. The cable TV industry has already adopted Java, as has Blu-ray Disc. It's a very small step for online video providers (Hulu, Youtube, etc.) to create a navigational experience for their content using the same Java platform which is already going to be present in the TV, set-top box, or Blu-ray player.
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