Blurring the Lines of Content Consumption
This month, TimeWarner and AT&T agreed to a purchase. We should all pay attention to this story because this is the canary in the coalmine; albeit two behemoth canaries. In an interview on CNN, the two CEOs said this is the “blurring of the lines on content consumption.”
The blurring lines are the lines leading into our homes and businesses with cable or satellite. According to a recent Google position paper, “Viewers are curating their own content streams, with no care for labels like “digital,” “broadcast,” “cable,” “smartphone” or “television.”
According to the media giants, there is a new level of cell coverage that will rival the signal received at home. AT&T plans to roll-out its 5G mobile network with speeds of 1 GB delivered wirelessly. That move alone will converge the worlds of distribution and content at a rapid rate.
So are we watching YouTube on TV or TV on YouTube? It sounds like it will not matter in the future: What we do know is that video content is becoming more and more valuable and more and more desirable.