Is DirecTV looking ahead to a TVoIP life after satellite?

DirecTV is offering new set top boxes that do on demand streaming via a broadband connection. a couple of decades back, the prospect of hundreds of channels of programming direct for the satellite was cutting edge and an unbeatable business model. Now there’s a rumor of DirecTV TVoIP service similar to Hulu.

Today were are in the midst of a paradigm shift, when programming becomes content, and rather than consulting programming schedules for when to view or Tivo, increasingly we select content from a menu to view on demand.

Don’t look for DirecTV to scuttle their multi bird system anytime soon, but I’m betting they’ve seen the future. At least they’ve put a toe into the TVoIP pond. In the very near future that pond will be an ocean of  millions of videos from thousands of producers, all available as on demand content. There will not be much of a business in a closed system of  400 - 500 broadcast channels when that happens.

We’ve received a couple of anonymous tips that DirectTV, a $24 billion satellite TV provider, may be entering the online TV wars with a new site called DirectTV Web On Demand. The site would compete with startups like Hulu, Joost, Fancast, Sling.com, etc.

We don’t know much about the service, or even if it’s real. One of the tipsters says they’ve worked on the project and supplied us with the mockup screen shot above, which could quite possibly be real. On the other hand, we’ve spoken with industry insiders and they say they’ve heard nothing about the project. (Tech Crunch)