The CEO of Netlix was quoted a few months ago saying that they are pushing digital distribution as the way to go, and that they expect disc rentals to start declining in about 5 years, and yes, that includes Blu-ray, not just DVD.

What makes Netflix streaming so dangerous to physical discs is that Netlix had the common sense to allow third parties to develop for the platform. At home I have two Xbox 360s and I am able to watch my Netflix movies from either, and they look awesome. On top of that I can watch them from any of the Macs.

If you have $100, that buys you a box that you connect to ethernet and your TV and use that to stream Netflix. If you want a Blu-ray player, some of them come with Netflix too.

The best part is that there are no DRM issues. They are rentals, and there's no way to capture these movies to crack and pirate around so the studios have less of an excuse to drag their feet. I expect that the Netflx CEO's 5-year mark is exaggerated, it is going to be a reality in less than three years.

As for cable: My cable internet connection is fantastic, it is rock solid, it only gets faster, and it never dies. My cable tv feed? Sucks. It is so bad that I get data dropouts watching NBC in HD! I mean, what kind of crap is that? Then on top of that, Comcast conveniently forces me to rent a PVR in order to have a box with HD outputs, they refuse to rent me a non-PVR HD cable box.

I could cut the TV part of my bill but then Comcast would punish me by raising my internet rates, they charge more to non-TV customers. so I either pay them a lot of money for TV that sucks, or I cut that and pay more for my internet.

We also have FIOS here, but Verizon doesn't want my money. My building has been fully wired for FIOS for almost two years, but the IDIOTS forgot to drop the cable that reaches my condo, and after FIVE failed installation attempts I decided that it wasn't worth the hassle. If they can't even install it, how are they going to maintain it?

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