ivi sprouts broadcast TV Anywhere; promises to make set-top boxes 'obsolete'

This may not exactly qualify as cord cutting. Consumers eager to pay $4.99 a month for broadcast television (sometimes referred to as free over-the-air broadcast television) via their Internet connection and PC have a new friend in ivi, a Seattle-based company with visions of attracting those millions of basic TV subscribers cable has been leaking to its new Internet-based model.

According to an ivi news release, the new service offers "more content than Hulu" made available via a downloadable application at ivi's website. "The cable industry has spent countless millions of dollars on so-called ‘TV Everywhere' solutions in a blind effort to prop up outdated technology and business models," said ivi founder-CEO Todd Weaver in a news release. "However, ivi empowers its users to experience ‘TV Anywhere,' offering them major broadcast channels delivered live to their laptop of desktop."

Integrated into Google TV or Apple TV, or even as a standalone, ivi "makes the set-top box and any ‘Web to TV' products obsolete," he said. Technologically, ivi's biggest attraction will be that it has no buffering so it will deliver content "just like traditional TV, but online."

For more:
- see this news release

Related articles:
So-called cord cutters are still bound to service providers
Report: Online video success forces strategic shift in cable, IPTV industry
Disconnect: Nielsen says more watching TV; Yankee says cord-cutters increasing