TV networks are as obsolete as rabbit ears
Google Fiber, noting America’s accelerating cord-cutting trend, today announced that it will not be offering television as part of its Louisville and San Antonio rollouts.
Think about that. A major, next-generation telecommunications provider has chosen to skip the video offerings, acknowledging that its customers just aren’t interested. Says Google:
If you’ve been reading the business news lately, you know that more and more people are moving away from traditional methods of viewing television content. Customers today want to control what, where, when, and how they get content. They want to do it their way, and we want to help them.
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For our existing markets with TV as a part of their product offerings, nothing is changing — although more and more of you are choosing Internet-only options from Google Fiber. We’ve seen this over and over again in our Fiber cities.
I predicted back in 2009 (and again, and again, and again, and again, and again) that television networks and cable companies that don’t embrace Internet delivery are doomed:
Last week, I was describing to a friend who was new to Tivo how Tivo changes television. Through the magic of Tivo, MythTV, and similar DVRs, viewers have no use for TV networks anymore. We will watch (or stream) only the show they want and leave the rest. TV networks spend time assembling programming into a “channel” only to have that programming disassembled by Tivo. Eventually viewers will get wise and cut out the network middleman.
The traditional way of watching television is dead.
Google Fiber’s chief aim is to bring superfast Internet to more people. This has been our mission since our beginnings in Kansas City, because we believe that it can have a huge impact in a community — video conversations in real time with no delay; homework at the speed of light; downloads and uploads within minutes, not hours. A lot can happen when you aren’t waiting for your Internet to catch up.
Over the years, we’ve worked to innovate the entire process. We’re not afraid to try new things as part of our normal way of doing business — focused on the end goal of getting superfast Internet into people’s homes. From faster, more efficient new methods of deployment to our commitment to transparent pricing to ensuring our customer service is top notch to our approach to community impact work in each market, we’re always looking for the best way to serve our customers.
With that Google Fiber spirit in mind, we’re trying something new in our next two Fiber cities. When we begin serving customers in Louisville and San Antonio, we’ll focus on providing superfast Internet – and the endless content possibilities that creates – without the traditional TV add on.
Source: Google Fiber Blog
Wikimedia Commons photo by Daniel Christensen