They say you learn from history and if the executives running the television business today do not head those words they will end up in the same place newspapers find themselves. Case in point, today I stayed home this morning so my wife could run out and take care of a few errands...I wasn't thinking about it when I agreed to stay home with the kids for a few hours that I would be able to watch the final round of the US Open. Fast forward a couple of hours and she returns as the final 3-4 pairings were finishing up...no problem the US Open app I downloaded on Thursday came in handy as I was able to watch the final 4 holes live on my iPhone driving to the office and ultimately sitting in the parking lot as Lucas Glover made his short par putt to seal the deal.
As I type this post I am watching the Rockies leading the Angels 3-1 in the fifth inning via MLB's AtBat iPhone app...by the way the picture quality is flawless. So in the span of twelve hours I watch two live sports events on my iPhone; one via the 3G AT&T network and the other via my home WiFi connected to my AT&T dsl service. If this along with Hulu, Boxee, Apple TV, etc. don't scare the pants off television executives then they don't have a heartbeat. Things are just starting to get interesting and wait till wireless networks catch up and start delivering speeds that rival what you can get via cable or dsl service today.
Competition is no longer 500 channels it is now starting to become five million channels with the onset of the various do it yourself internet/mobile video solutions on the market today. Companies like Google, Ustream, Vimeo, Oolyala, Livestream, etc. are letting anyone who wants to distribute video do so. And with the new iPhone 3GS release the ability to stream video live via your mobile phone is coming sooner than you think. Remember when people were afraid of what people would do with the still cameras built into mobile phones a few years ago?
Another example of this new video paradigm is Gary Vaynerchuk's wildly popular Wine Librabry TV...he produces a thirty-forty minute show five days a week and according to Gary his video reaches over ninety thousand daily. Now Gary just needs to release an iPhone app so I can watch the show on my mobile phone.
Sit back and enjoy the ride as the video business continues to unfold over the next few years...oh and enjoy the ability to watch what you want, when you want on the device most convenient for you.