Yes, a Sony oriented service with a bare bones lineup so far is going to take down Netflix or Hulu. That's preacious. It would be like someone saying MS will destroy Comcast with the Xbox One.

As soon as any of these services start making any sort of impact to broadcast companies they will just up the licensing fees like they are doing with Netflix.

I think you need to consider sonys position as a media company. And how they can use that to their advantage over the others.

Who pays for Crackle?

so does this whole thing mean i'll be able to subscribe to individual channels?  ..cause that would be a dream come true.  there are only two cable channels i'd even want: comedy central and cartoon network. ..and i see comedy central listed above.

dear god do i want to see the cable monopolies broken.

I believe that this is just a deal that will be giving to anyone thats willing to partner up.  Here is the reason why.  There are many different boxes out there that can server up content.  For a media company like Viacon its dumb to only serve up your content on one platform when you are trying to serve it up to as many platforms as possible to make more money.  There is nothing about this statement that says exclusive which means its open to anyone one.  With Apple and Google going after the same space including MS, you will be seeing deals like this all over the place as these media companies try to seperate themselves from cable alone.

The difference between MS approach is that they are tyring to provide content from all angles.  Wether its your internet App, Cable FIOS like Comcast, Xfinity, Verison At@T or hook up your cable box to the X1 even creating their own content.  MS is looking for an all around solution where the X1 rules them all.  They are looking for tighter integration between the X1 and the console capablities.

As I stated before, we will be seeing a lot of these deals and content owners will be looking to cash in on all these devices or companies looking for content.

You are reaching on this one.  Sony is just one player in a huge playing field.  Sony is only the master of their own content but there are plenty of content owners out there and a bunch of them are on netflix and hulu.  Sony would need to PAY for that content to be taken away from the other services and there is no reason why the content owners would go exclusive when they can make everyone pay.

Also its not like Sony is swiming in dought to barter any exclusive content agreements.  Even the Viacon deal does not sound like its exclusive so whats stopping Apple, Google, MS or any other company from brokering a deal of their own.

problem is, you have to connect your console every day to the internet to see your daily shows and movies. but like i learned, there are just too many people on this planet who simply can't do that. i mean, we talk here about gb and not kb in data.

those people simply need something else as interent to watch it.

Just an FYI, this isn't an exclusive content deal.

Microsoft already has several apps for Viacom stations. That said, I don't think Microsoft and Sony are currently chasing the same carrot.

Microsoft is looking to build it's media capabilities through apps. This is an easier, less threatening way to enter the media fray than Sony's approach, which is to offer a TV subscription service. Which it sounds like what they're trying to build.

I think you sincerely underestimate Comcast.

The reason why I believe Microsoft scaled back it's ambitious plans is simply because had they gone forward with an IPTV service the broadband providers would have reacted negatively by capping data or throttling connections.  Something they already do, but would have more significant of an impact.  I mean why would I, choose an IPTV service via Microsoft or Sony if the picture starts and stops, or is throttled down to such a low image quality that it makes it worthless to watch on my 50" TV?

An IPTV service is a great idea.  More power to Sony because I think it'll make it easier for Microsoft to enter the market.  However, I don't believe Sony has the infrastructure necessary to provide that support.  Where as Microsoft just might.

MS already does this on the 360. For certain cable companies they have apps on the 360 (verizon fios, time warner cable, xfinity, hbo go, show time, syfy, etc) for those you dont need a cable box at all, just interenet, and to provide your subsrcition info. Sony is still playing catch up to the 360 in the space. Look into it. The 360 is already a great media center, with out the need for a cable box. The xbox one will expand upon that, and allow for access to the cable box on top of what it already does. Sony has a ways to go to catch up in that area. Not to mention the lack of voice controls, the best part. None them need a cable attached to your xbxox 360. only proof of a subcrition to their service. Too be honest after looking at their partners, they have way more content than even I knew about.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/partners

https://www.google.com/search?q=cable+companies+with+360+apps&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/04/xbox-360-video-gets-35-new-content-providers/