R.I.P. Entertainment Center

I think the term ‘entertainment center’ ought to be retired. I’m referring to the piece of furniture where your television has found its home. Not long ago, an ‘entertainment center’ was a terrific tool to display electronic consumerism. It might have held a cable box, home audio system, DVD/VCR player, video game consol and a projection TV. Most of these devices have been displaced by the computer, as we’ve discovered the convenience and economic benefit of building digital entertainment libraries. Today, the only items that are entertainment-related in my ‘entertainment center’ are my television and cable box. I don’t think it will be that long until the cable box is reunited with the other antiquated machines.

The ultimate departure of my cable box is a minor annoyance. I’m not much of an interior designer and wouldn’t know what to put in his place. Maybe some books or my football with a phony Elway autograph? These questions won’t keep me up at night. However, I suspect the management teams at Comcast and Time Warner do stay up late, agonizing over the future of cable television.

The WSJ.com recently published an article on Move Networks, an internet TV outfit with an “adaptive streaming” technology that can deliver high-quality internet TV. Interestingly, the company’s backers include Comcast. It seems precarious for Comcast to fund a technology that might ultimately displace the set-top box. It seems to be a defensive strategy. Last month, Comcast launched its TV Everywhere (powered my Move) that enables cable subscribers to access internet TV on demand.

It’s also likely that the fear of internet disintermediation that was a driving force behind the Comcast-NBC deal and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts’ obsession with wedding content with distribution. NBC also happens to own a significant chunk of Hulu. Owning content and limiting viewing to cable subscribers seems like a pretty crappy long-term strategy.

At best, I imagine that tyranny over content will slow the bleed of subscriber defections as internet TV takes off (right now it's a bit complicated to watch internet TV on a TV, but it's doable and bound to get easier). Whatever television of tomorrow looks like, I can guarantee you won’t need a set-top box and your cable bill will be coming down. In the meantime, let’s start calling the ‘entertainment center’ what it really is … so what is it, a bookcase or a table?