Tech guru Shelly Palmer – one of MDU Geek’s favorite
bloggers -- put out an interesting piece this week regarding Mediamageddon.
The term refers to the recent sell off in media stocks, which is presumably
tied to declining traditional TV viewership.
Then, on the heels of AT&T buying DirecTV, the companies
announced
that apartment residents and college students who can’t subscribe, er, directly to DirecTV (in situations where
their building isn’t wired for it, or landlords won’t allow them to have a dish
installed on their balcony) can now buy the flagship NFL Sunday Ticket
programming package a la cart via live stream. To boot, they’re offering
two-tiered pricing – $49.99 a month for four months for apartment residents,
and a “student friendly” price of $24.99 a month for four months for students.
Could the confluence of these events be a sign of things to come? Some
popular pay services – HBO Now comes to mind -- already have paid, direct-to-consumer
streaming choices that cut networks and cable TV subscriptions out of the loop.
For apartment owners, it’s just another indication that the
Internet pipe going into your building is the most important amenity pipe you
have, and may well soon be the only one. That being the case, it’s important to
wire it right, and get the most from it that you can. We’ll be looking at just
that in an upcoming feature, How Much Fiber is Enough, Part 2. In the meantime, check out Part 1, here. Stay tuned!
