2 things likely to shake up established industries that need a good shaking

Ouya

I'm not a gamer, but this idea could really shake up the game industry. The basic idea is that it's a very accessible console for independent developers.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

Interested to see how this goes. Getting into just about any real console as a developer is difficult (and costly); that low (and cheap) barrier is a big reason why the iPhone and Android platforms have attracted so many developers. Offering a $100 console built on open source / available technology that anybody can develop games for is an obvious idea, but as far as I know, nobody's done it to date.

AMC and Breaking Bad

AMC and Dish Network are currently in a few big fights; there are a lot of details but you can find them pretty easily. The interesting thing that's coming out of this is the fact that while AMC is no longer available on Dish Network (as a Dish Network customer, it's a move I'm less than thrilled about), AMC decided to broadcast the premiere of Breaking Bad at the same time as the TV show:

http://observer.com/2012/07/amc-streams-breaking-bad-premiere-online-for-dish-customers/

Pretty much everybody is fed up with cable companies as far as I can tell (outside of the cable companies themselves) and I don't know too many TV watchers that would not be VERY excited to be able to get networks a la carte via the Internet. Game of Thrones (reportedly the most pirated TV show this year) has already run into problems with this; basically, if I don't have cable and HBO - a pair that is hard to find under $60 per month - I can't watch the show, because it's not available on iTunes or Amazon or DVD until about a year later.

If the AMC approach was successful, it could set a precedent, or at least show the networks that streaming live TV over the Internet (with commercials and everything) can be successful; if they can create a model to get paid for this, I think the whole TV / cable industry is going to see some big changes.

In related news, Arrested Development is supposed to be coming back, delivered via Netflix:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/arrested-development-on-netflix-ron-howard_n_1664392.html

Comments

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