Could SageTV compete with Netflix?

[korben_dallas]

Aside from the source of the material - cable/satellite/ota vs internet - what is the difference between the two companies?

SageTV has more products of course, but Netflix has more pay-per-view options. In the end, they are both enabling home users the ability to watch media content.

What is to stop SageTV from licensing television, movie, and even music content for resell? Either monthly fee or pay-per, or both? I would think a built-in user base on a proprietary software platform would be attractive to the content providers.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

Aside from the source of the material - cable/satellite/ota vs internet - what is the difference between the two companies?

Where to begin.....

Netflix is in the business of licensing and distributing content, both physically and via the internet.

SageTV sells products to aggregate and manage media distributed by others.

SageTV has more products of course, but Netflix has more pay-per-view options. In the end, they are both enabling home users the ability to watch media content.

Well if you go by that loose definition, so is Samsung or Planar via my TVs, or my Pioneer Blu-ray player, etc, etc.

SageTV has more in common with Roku or Microsoft, who provide platforms for media viewing/sharing than Netflix.

What is to stop SageTV from licensing television, movie, and even music content for resell?

The same thing that stops them from getting Netflix support.

Size.

Either monthly fee or pay-per, or both? I would think a built-in user base on a proprietary software platform would be attractive to the content providers.

Not as attractive as cash and users, which is what Netflix has that SageTV doesn't.