My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: How NBC Universal Live Streaming is TV's Future as Comcast steps into 21st Century

“I’m not sure I’m a fan of that name for a consumer term,” she said. The mantra for NBC Universal’s campaign will be “Watch TV Without the TV.”

Executive Vice President of TV Everywhere Alison Moore in an interview with the Wall Street Journal about NBC going Live Streaming

Comcast owned NBC Universal (National Broadcasting Corporation) appears to be following in the footsteps of CBS News as it relates to Streaming.

They’ve announced that they launching a live Streaming Platform on their NBC website on Tuesday December 16^th 2014 as reported in the article “NBC pushes live Streaming to PCs”, published December 16, 2014 10:50 AM PST by Don Reisinger, CNET News.

NBC Live is a Streaming Services that sits as an option on NBC's main website and is available only for Americans.

So Jamaicans and other Internationals your VPN (Virtual Private Networks) and Proxies will not work in as explained in my blog article entitled “Surfing the Internet Anonymously using VPN - How to use Streaming Set Top Boxes over VPN”

Allegedly, the NBC Live Streaming Service will offer:

1. 10 NBC-owned stations

2. On-demand programming from Bravo, USA, E!, Syfy, Telemundo and other NBC owned Content providers

Plans are afoot to also include local affiliates as part of their Live Streaming Platform.

Unlike CBS All Access which costs only US$5.99 per month as announced on Thursday October 16th 2014 as reported in my blog article entitled “US$5.99 CBS All Access Live in US of A - How HBO Streaming by 2015 will beat Netflix as Jamaican Local TV and Radio Stations unprepared for Digicel and LIME TV”, NBC offer is based on having a Pay-TV subscription with Comcast, the parent company of NBC Universal.

So again, no Internationals or Jamaicans can watch the NBC Live Streaming Service. Good to note that this is on PC's and Laptops; mobile device Live Streaming won't be coming until 2015.

They’re also a bit late to the game, as CBS has already launched a free, 24-hour advertisement based Streaming Service called CBSN on Thursday November 6^th 2014, less than a month after CBS All Access as reported in my blog article entitled “CBSN Streaming News Portal Internationals - First Digital Streaming News Channel sponsored by Advertisers on your Browser”.

Comcast activates Roku's HBO Go and Showtime Anytime Apps - America's largest Cable Provides now in the 21st Century

On that very same day, Comcast also finally activated the HBO Go and Showtime Anytime apps on the Roku Platforms as stated in the article “Comcast lifts ban on HBO, Showtime Streaming via Roku”, published December 16, 2014 9:39 AM PST by David Katzmaier, CNET News.

This after years of wrangling and oddly, approval for HBO and Showtime on other Streaming Platforms such as Apple TV, the XBox and even the new-kid-on-the-block Google Chromecast as noted in the article “Roku vs. Apple TV vs. Chromecast vs. Amazon Fire TV: Which streamer should you buy?”, published February 6, 2014 12:50 PM PST by David Katzmaier and Matthew Moskovciak, CNET News.

Roku has the largest Streaming Device base with some 10 million active devices as noted in my blog article entitled “10 million Roku Streaming Devices sold - Roku still King of Streaming as Google, Amazon and Apple unable to beat Baked in Surprise”.

Not to mention their coming launch of Roku Streaming baked into Hisense and TCL HDTV as reported in my blog article entitled “US$229 Roku TV from Hisense and TCL – Control your TV with your smartphone as Smartphone Apps Control Streaming Television Glimpse of the Future”.

Still, if it's any consolation for Roku, the HBO Go and Showtime Anytime Apps on Amazon TV, with the Amazon TV stick to get the go-ahead by 2015 as mentioned in the article “HBO Go comes to Amazon Fire TV box now, hits stick in 2015”, published December 15, 2014 1:27 PM PST by David Katzmaier, CNET News haven't quite been fully activated as yet.

Thus NBC Live launch on mobile devices, coincidentally, falls in line with the launch of HBO Go and Showtime on Amazon TV stick by 2015. Most likely, all their mobile Streaming is on a common Platform.

As to why they denied Roku for so long, no one really knows why.

NBC launches Streaming Service - How TV Everywhere was started by ABC and CBS as Streaming TV is Television's Future

Truth be told, this trend really started when ABC Live went Live Streaming in 2013, also only for Americans. So it's really CBS that's late to the game, with NBC Universal coming reluctantly afterwards.

This is a follow-on of years of mooting their “TV Everywhere” initiative to bring Streaming to Laptop’s PC's and Mobile devices as stated in the article “NBC to Live Stream Network Shows”, published December 16, 2014 12:01 a.m. ET, By JOE FLINT, Wall Street Journal.

This reminds me of the RJR Communication's Group's TVJ Everywhere initiative announced in September and was supposed to have launched in October 2014 as reported in my blog article entitled “RJR Communications Group Launching TVJ Everywhere - How Streaming TVJ Everywhere will boost Advertising Revenue as Digicel and LIME TV coming”.

Possibly it hasn't launched as unlike ABC, CBS and now NBC, here in Jamaica the infrastructure for 4G LTE and Streaming Boxes aren't as prevalent as in the US of A. Ditto to Jamaican adoption of HDTV, critical to a successful and cost-effective DSO (Digital Switch Over) or even OTT (Over The Top) Streaming Services.

They may also be waiting on Digicel completed build out of their land based fiber Optic Network and Sub-Sea Caribbean-wide Fiber Optic Network for carrying 4G LTE Data traffic such as Streaming Sports Events from recently acquired SportsMax as explained in my blog article entitled “Digicel purchases SportsMax – Why No Games, Just Sports on Digicel's Streaming Cable TV over Bigger, Better Network 4G LTE and FTTH”.

Still, the trend will be hard for local Television Stations TVJ and CVM TV to ignore as content won't save them in the long run.

That is, if in the future, Jamaicans are able to stream ABC, CBS and now NBC on their Laptops, smartphones and Tablet using 5G Broadband Internet.

Here's the link:

CBSN

CVM TV Live