In the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision to rule against Aereo, different platforms have been emerging reminding consumers, that Aereo wasn’t the only option. PlayOn , “the media server software from MediaMall Technologies that streams online videos to TVs and mobile devices,” is encouraging consumers to cut the cord and instead purchase their lifetime service for $69.99 (with a Chromecast included so you can access their service on your TV). We spoke with PlayOn’s CEO, Jeff Lawrence about their Chromecast offering and the state of cord-cutting.
Lost Remote: What advantages do I have using PlayOn with my Chromecast rather than Chromecast alone?
Jeff Lawrence: PlayOn allows you to cast over a hundred channels from your smartphone or tablet to your Chromecast, versus the dozen or so it does natively – for example, CBS. You can also use Chromecast from Windows Phone and Blackberry 10 phones with PlayOn (not just iOS and Android) and from any PC browser (not just Chrome) with PlayOn.
LR: With the Aereo court ruling and the general changes in the TV landscape – what do you anticipate for the future of streaming & the television industry?
Lawrence: The TV industry will eventually move to IP/Streaming of all it’s content to any device. But they will intentionally slow that pace as much as they can. The Aereo decision will serve to help their efforts to slow that movement, but not stop it. It may be a good 5-10 years before we can truly stream any content to any device.
Lawrence also pointed out that, “I don’t think the Aereo decision has much, if any, implication for social TV.”