Mark Cuban, the billionaire founder of HDNet, made an appearance in late May at the D7 conference in Carlsbad, Calif., to talk up HD in general and his struggling channel in particular — and to underscore his contention that when it comes to video (and monetizing TV video) nothing comes close to HD.
Cuban’s remarks come at a period of tremendous growth in online video portals (including what’s purported to be HD-quality streaming) by mainly established television groups such as Hulu (NBC broadcast, USA, Telemundo, Fox and Disney/ABC). Hulu’s content is free, albeit with commercial insertions.
Cuban, whose HDNet venture suffered a major distribution setback when Time Warner Cable dropped the channel from all its systems coast-to-coast on May 31, said consumers are more willing to spend their money on HD sets these days than on computers, and more time watching television on TV sets than on computers, according to PC Magazine.
Apparently not addressed in this D7 session was the growth of video – including HD — on tiny devices.
