TV Innovations

I love TV. Granted there's a lot of garbage content, but there's also a lot of great content. Since the VCR, it's been possible (although clumsy) to time-shift your TV programs - watching the programs you want, when you want. Things like TiVo and DVR provide a cleaner interface to this functionality while adding useful new features like "pause live TV".

The problem with these technologies is that you need to know the programs you want to watch in advance. If you've just discovered a new series and want to watch previously aired shows, you''ll need to wait for the TV network to rebroadcast (or for the episode to be released on DVD or iTunes).

Enter Move and Joost. These new products offer the promise of time-shifted, on-demand TV, offered over the Internet. Both these products allow the owners of the content (networks) to control distribution, so there's no YouTube-like copyright worries. Joost works more like a file sharing system (think Napster or LimeWire), while Move relies on a smart client to keep the video streaming. Move provides HD streaming right now for ABC and FOX, with Joost's offering currently in beta (I'm eagerly waiting for my invitation).

As this technology evolves, I'd look for local governments and organizations to provide video of their meetings over a similar feed. This could, for instance, help parents "attend" school board meeting they would've otherwise missed because of a conflict with their child's soccer game.

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