The television industry is vastly changing in ways that you and I can hardly imagine that it makes it difficult to define what it really is these days. From Wikipedia, it says…

“Television, sometimes known as TV, the boob tube, or Tele is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images and sound. Television can transmit images that are monochrome (black-and-white), in color, or in three dimensions. The name television can refer specifically to a television set, a television program, or the medium of television transmission. Television is an iconic mass medium, serving as a conduit for entertainment, advertising and news.”

Although some of these are still true, most have been given entirely new definitions that the terms and meanings no longer applies when we talk about TV or TV programming. Long ago TV signals were broadcast via communication towers owned by certain TV networks, but now you can get programming from the World Wide Web! And probably, in the future, radio and TV will all be linked to the internet and broadcasting towers will be a thing of the past.

The Sony Entertainment Network has big plans for 2015. It is the first of a few companies who will be offering cloud-based TV service, and Sony is calling this new service: Playstation Vue. This past November in New York, Sony started the beta testing of the new service. The company has plans to continue the beta testing in the cities of Philadelphia, PA, Chicago, IL and New York, NY. All beta testing will be done by invitation only.

Sony is planning the initial launch of the service for the first quarter of 2015. The company is also planning to make the new service available for a variety of other devices, including the Apple iPad.

Both Verizon and the Dish Network are two other major, big-name companies that will be among the first of several who plan to offer bundles of “live TV channels over the Internet.” These new “internet-based streaming television offerings” will be very similar to that of traditional cable.

Channels such as Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon are to be included in the first 75 channels the Sony Playstation Vue service will be offering. Sony is currently in the process of negotiating an agreement with Disney. ESPN, which is a sports station that is currently owned by Disney, is also one of the most popular and most-watched sports channels, and therefore commands the most expensive carriage fees on cable.

According to Sony, a lot of its Playstation customers currently subscribe to cable TV but desire an improved user experience. Sony has not determined yet how much it plans to charge its customers for the new service; however, it does plan to offer attractive pricing without any additional charges and without forcing its customers into long-term contracts.

Sony’s plan for the new service includes a focus on improvement of the current cable TV interface by combining the traditional cable and a cloud-based user interface. The new interface, which will be similar to that of Netflix, will feature both time-shifted as well as live viewing, and will also include a list of user recommendations.

The dominance of Netflix in the online streaming industry is now spilling over a little, as whilst names such as CBS, HBO and ESPN prepare to enter that market with their own dedicated streaming services, Netflix themselves are making a high-profile expansion to cable TV… or at least a streaming part of it.

Telecommunications giants Verizon (pictured), looking to enhance their overall entertainment package, have revealed their intention to roll out a service that incorporates Netflix with an eye towards enticing users to sign on for the overall package.

Verizon FiOS’s newest marketing ploy will see them bundle a year’s worth of free Netflix into their newest package, a ‘triple play’ of Internet, TV, and phone, according to BTIG Research. It is noted, though, that the deal is currently limited to the New York area, with residents able to sign up for this test run over the next 11 days, though presumably anyone signing up in this period will receive all the advertised benefits of it.

It is by far the biggest third-party streaming deal to appear on such a contract, and BTIG note that it is also the first time Netflix has been offered at all in such a capacity in the USA, though Netflix themselves claim that they have sold rights to their service for a number of European telecommunications providers.

BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield said of what could be a mutually beneficial deal between Netflix and Verizon: “Investor confidence in Netflix’s subscriber growth prospects is clearly shaken after Q3 2014 results, yet as we see aggressive promotion from ISPs such as Verizon, we are increasingly confident in Netflix’s ability to achieve our 2017 100 mm worldwide subscribers target.”

Though the background to the deal might not be the most harmonious, with this year witnessing the first-ever drop in American pay TV subscription figures and cable companies now carrying greater numbers of broadband subscribers than for cable TV, not to mention Verizon’s dispute with Netflix over the latter causing Internet traffic jams, this latest deal appears to be one that each party could gain from in their subscriber counts should the trial go to plan, so could it end up paving the way for similar combinations to flood the cable and streaming markets?

Though the match-up could perhaps be likened to a dominant sports team going up against an upstart challenger that has a decent team spearheaded by one superstar player, the announcement of HBO that they will soon offer an exclusively online service has prompted Netflix‘s response of how it will make both of them to push each other to the limits, and that both will become stronger for it.

HBO had announced last week that by the year 2015, they will be offering a ‘digital version’ of their subscription TV service in 2015, the first for a brand that currently requires their own payments on top of a regular cable/satellite subscription (a system in place since foundation in 1972), including access to their HBO Go catch-up platform, but with the alternative business plan will allow consumers to pay a similar amount for only the online streaming parts.

Responding to the news with a letter to their shareholders, Netflix claimed that they have immediately bumped HBO up to the public status of being considered their “primary long-term competitor”, but that they had their eye on the network in that regard even before the announcement.

They wrote to shareholders: “The competition will drive us both to be better. It was inevitable and sensible that they would eventually offer their service as a standalone application. Many people will subscribe to both Netflix and HBO since we have different shows, so we think it is likely we both prosper as consumers move to internet TV.”

While they have to contend with 25% share price drops due to below-expectation performances during the last quarter without HBO competing, will the news that the long-running brand soon will be be enough to turn off some holders, or will the competition indeed drive both brands to another level in the online streaming market?

CBS have become the first US TV network to launch a dedicated streaming TV service that will let viewers watch live TV content, as well as catch-Up and full seasons of hit shows on-demand.

But there is a cost involved with the service, which is called CBS All Access and will set back users $5.99 monthly. On offer will be live streaming of local CBS TV stations in 14 areas that include New York, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.

Also available is on-demand streaming of 15 hit shows such as NCIS, CSI, and The Good Wife, along with thousands of episodes of classic TV shows such as Star Trek and Twin Peaks.

Although some CBS content is available for streaming elsewhere such as Hulu and Netflix, CBS All Access will be the first time that a bigger catalog of CBS shows can be accessed.

The service will be welcome to cord cutters along with those that are looking to dump expensive cable and satellite for a more ‘a la carte’ service, and makes for a good week after cable giant HBO also just revealed plans to offer a streaming service in 2015.

The big news about this service is the offer of streaming live TV. Previously those wishing to dump cable have had to endure waiting a day (or even several), before seeing TV shows. The other big news (and also bad news) is that live sports streaming of major events including NFL will not be available at this time.

Speaking about the new service in a statement, president of CBS Television Stations, Peter Dunn said, “With video consumption habits changing all the time, it is very important that we continue to provide the best local news, entertainment and sports via a service like CBS All Access. Television stations have been the fabric of local broadcasting for 75 years, and today’s announcement is part of paving the way for the next 75.”

The service can be accessed through the CBS All Access website as well via the iOS and Android apps.