We'd all be happier if we could get our home broadband and TV service over a simple wireless connection, with no cables, cable boxes, wires, big dusty set-top boxes, and guys who show up late to install it all. It's a wonder that these artifacts still exist.
The news Wednesday that Verizon is in "advanced" talks to buy the broadband video service that Intel has been working on may be pointing in the direction of a radically simplified living-room TV setup. Verizon might be assembling a way to deliver broadband TV service wirelessly to homes all across America using its 4G LTE network. Let's connect some dots.
Verizon is poised to buy Intel's video entertainment division, Intel Media, or at least the division's main product, OnCue Internet video service. OnCue is an "over-the-top" video service, meaning it runs over the public Internet and is agnostic to the ISP. Netflix and Amazon Instant Video are also "OTT" services.
Most people in the video industry believe that in the next decade or so old-school pay TV services like cable and satellite will give way to a new wave OTT services that look more like Netflix. And Verizon's movements in the last couple years strongly suggest that it would like to take its place in that next generation of pay-TV providers.
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