Product details

In December 2007, more than 75 percent of all US Internet users streamed some form of video on-line, consuming over 10 billion videos in total. While devices such as AppleTV and TiVo allowed users to watch Internet video on their televisions, Internet-delivered video was largely a web-based phenomenon. Despite this, the industry was preparing for the inexorable collision of Internet video and the television. While a video signal could be fed over coaxial cable, through copper wires or over fiber optic connections, the majority of US consumers would continue to receive their television signal and Internet service through a wired connection for the foreseeable future. This case examines the transition to IP (Internet protocol) video delivery in 2008 from the perspective of those companies that own the ''pipe,'' notably telecommunications companies, descendants of the 1982 AT&T divestiture, and cable companies, otherwise known as Multiple System Operators (MSOs).