Placeshifting Devices Could Threaten Mobile Video Services

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/2517/placeshifting_devices_could' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/2517/placeshifting_devices_could</a><br /><br /></div><i>"As more consumers use products such as the Slingbox to get "anywhere access" to their premium and personal content, so-called "placeshifting" technologies may face opposition from wireless carriers, according to a new study from ABI Research. The ability to stream pay TV from a set-top box and digital content from a home PC over the Internet to a variety of devices has the potential to disrupt new content services being delivered by mobile operators."</i><br /><br />Oh, now this is shocking. The carriers won't like people streaming video from their home systems because it has the potential to cut into their revenue from the content services they're offering. Boo hoo! I really couldn't care if they like it or not because I love it. I can only hope there will be a large backlash if they start to block content being stream to a phone on their network. 8)

[Rocco Augusto]

i find this article funny since i know cingular offers there content for free as long as you sign up for an unlimited data plan. if you want to stream via orb or slingbox youre going to grab the unlimited data plan... i dont really how a company like cingular could lose here :lol:

unfortunatly i dont know how sprint and verizon price their media services.

[Jerry Raia]

If people would just stop using their phones as music players and video players this whole problem would just go away! 8)

[Kris Kumar]

Reminds me of this post:

The Carriers have Once Again Pulled Out Their Hatchets, the Victim This Time is Sling Media (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10489)

[Kris Kumar]

I can only hope there will be a large backlash if they start to block content being stream to a phone on their network. 8)

I think placeshifted video streaming is just tip of the iceberg, recently I read some news about T-Mobile's plans for blocking VoIP in Europe. I think we might see the same in US and for other similar stuff. :evil:

[Rocco Augusto]

i think the carriers should just offer more wifi devices. i know a lot of people think "if i have wifi why get a data plan?" and the reason is this, you're not always near an access point.

wifi would help take the stress of the data networks but at the same time would be a nice feature for the consumer, when it works. plus with wifi it would kinda be a solution to the whole streaming content/voip thing. trust me, you can still sell data with wifi. i do it all day long for pdas and those data packages are $40USD. im sure it would be even easier to do with a smartphone or regular phone which has a data package of $20USD on cingular, especially with the new 3G networks and such free offerings as cingular video, orb media, smartphonethoughts.com (mobile version), etc.

(and yes, sometimes i do use sites like spt to get clients into phones, i just save it as a favorite so they can get smartphone help if they need it :lol: )

if push comes to shove the carriers could always create their own streaming software like orb media to help customers stream content from home to phone, but noooooooo, that solution would just be to easy :)