Aggregators: The future of Video Media?

[gkearneyca]

I've been following various 'how does content get to my tv?' threads. Threads regarding HDTV, cable cards, r5000, analog, digital, and following discussions regarding satellite, cable, over the air, and qam.

I've started wondering if within a few years if most of those are going to be little used?! Instead direct to consumer would be the way. At first, I thought digital purchasing via itunes and amazon would be the way to go but not any more. Now I am wondering why content providers (abc, nbc, cbs, tnt, showtime, hbo, espn) will bother with middle men at all -- be it comcast or amazon.

ABC, NBC, CBS, Discovery, etc. all already have reasonable offerings on the net. Several local tv and radio stations also have a web presence. ABC has HD content on the net - not sure about the others.

Sprinkle in youtube, yahoo video, google video, shoutcast, raphsody, purchased downloads (itunes, amazon, etc), ... pretty strong media offerings on a pc.

The downside so far - custom players for everything.

Anyway, thought I'd toss it out there for discussion. Wondering if others are watching/waiting. Also, I am curious if others are starting to try to integrate any of these sites into their Sage setups.

regards,
gk

[waynedunham]

Once they FIX all of those options so that I can watch the media in the FULL resolution it was originally broadcast in on my television they may have a viable option. But if they insist on forcing me to watch it while sitting in an office chair at my PC then it will NEVER fly.

Google, YouTube, etc? They look putrid on my puny little 22" computer monitor, never mind trying to view them on my 1080i HDTV.

[bcjenkins]

http://www.thehdweb.com

[gkearneyca]

Nice link.
Thanks