Gigaom reported that a future Boxee Box upgrade will allow users to access live over-the-air TV programming. I’m a big fan of Boxee and of the Boxee Box. The ability to search across different video content services is a key element of what TV needs to be. As I’ve written about in the past, universal search – if it can ever be delivered – is an important aspect of the future of TV.
Certainly OTA matters. Something like 40-60 percent of the TV programming US households watch still come from the channels available free over-the-air. But with the OTA tuner dongle, users will still need to install a digital TV antenna and herein lies the hurdle. OTA programming can be great uncompressed HD content – but the need to set-up the antenna is still a big (enough) hurdle from keeping many from relying solely on OTA and other Internet-delivered content. When the mass market can access “OTA” video programming across an Internet connection and not be beholden to an antenna, then will consumers truly start to move away from traditional paid TV services to other online delivered content.
