inbound - 6:41 pm on Apr 26, 2011 (gmt 0)

Fast forward to a world without fast forward...

Movies are not the big prize here - it's who controls personalised TV advertising.

I'd put money on TV/STB hardware enforcing advert watching (no way to fast forward even on recordings, due to having to use a given set top box) which is streamed (although the programming might not be streamed - still broadcast) based on what the ad network knows about you (that's likely to be Google). The power of TV advertising could be increased hugely by personalisation (and hence cost to advertisers) - probably to such a degree that TV subscriptions (where they exist) fade away to be re-replaced by advertiser supported channels.

People love "free" - the willingness of the majority to forego privacy (and some of their time) in exchange for premium programming at no "cost" will shape the future of television, regardless of the delivery mechanism.