A study by two Senate Democrats, Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, estimated that 99 percent of cable TV subscribers rent their set-top boxes and pay on average $231 a year to do so. According to the two senators, the cable industry reaps more than $19.5 billion a year from all those rentals.
“Apple CEO Tim Cook a couple of weeks ago said the future of TV is apps and we completely agree. Just like changing a channel, you can fire up your iPad or your mobile phone and switch back and forth between apps,” says Brian Dietz of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.
Dietz says there are dozens of different apps from cable and broadcast channels — everyone from A&E to WE tv has one. And there are devices — including Roku, Apple TV and Google Chromecast — that allow you to watch big-screen TV delivered over the Internet. But what if you could get cable channels and VOD services like Netflix & Amazon and broadcast TV in just one box that you paid for once?
It would be TV utopia.
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