TechPulse 360

Online video is big and it is getting bigger. So will it change the Internet and is a boatload of money to make?

By 2010 the Internet on television will be a real market, says VC Bill Gurley

Yes, according to Bill Gurley, general partner at Benchmark Capital. But perhaps not in ways you might expect.

Gurley gave a keynote address Wednesday at the Always On Summit and Stanford University, and here are some of the highlights.

First of all, the Internet is coming to the television, says Gurley. This melding will start this year and, “by December 2010, I think this will be a real market,” says Gurley.

Not only will this change the market for TV sets, but it will start a competitive battle for the operating system of the television, he said.

Here are some other observations from his talk:

*Silicon Valley has it wrong. Wireless will not create an alternate distribution channel for video. “I think there is not chance of this,” Gurley said. “There is not enough air capacity.”

*Hulu will develop a premium paid offering for Web viewers;

*Comcast will launch a Hulu competitor within 12 months. It will deliver an online library of Comcast content;

*The online video market could mirror the satellite radio market, with competitors paying ungodly sums for differentiated content (think Howard Stern);

*Specialized non-fiction content will be especially valuable, such as an interview with Warren Buffett. Differentiated content in general will be valuable.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 11:50 am and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.