Chromecast

As we were talking about evolving business models on the Internet and the disruption that digital technology has unleashed on media markets like music, books, and TV, I could not help but think about Google's new Chromecast product.  Personally, I have not had cable for over five years, but I understand that I am very much in the minority and that people by and large remain plugged in. Nevertheless, increasing broadband penetration, improvements in access to services like Netflix and Hulu, and original online content have made 'slinging' video content from the Internet to TV more viable. Until now, however, this has continued to be outside of the mainstream. I would content the two major reasons are
1) Cost - The devices (Roku, XBox, Apple TV) have been expensive and cost too much to "give it a shot."
2) Availability of Content - These systems, most notably Apple TV, have been relatively closed and have not offered widespread content.

Google Chromecast, priced at $35, and with an API published and open to the world, addresses both of these challenges. First, anything viewable in the Chrome browser can be viewed through the TV (though suboptimally). Secondly, even with the faster and better native streaming (directly from the device; with Chrome, your PC needs to send the data over your wifi), a number of services are already available and the API has been opened up to anybody who wants to connect their service. No doubt with heavy sales, all the major content providers will get onboard eventually.