Clark Howard's Tips

May 28, 2008

The Blu-ray technology is not selling all that well, between it being too expensive and a serious dearth of titles in the format. Clark says let the early adopters have the bragging rights and hang back for now.

When we think of TV, we think of getting it from cable, satellite or even a monopoly phone company. But there's a big change coming from a company called Sezmi.com, which is in testing right now.

This new technology aims to offer TV at a projected lower cost than anywhere else. It also promises the ability to watch just about anything on your schedule. It's like TiVo on steroids, yet it could turn out to be vaporware.

Sezmi pulls programming from multiple sources, including the Internet, your local broadcast stations and the traditional cable/satellite fare. Plus it has its own massive on-demand library.

Is it going to work? Clark doesn't know. But something like it should.

The point is that technology provides the solution that destroys monopolies. We've suffered for too long because of an ill-fated government decision to create cable monopolies in our communities. That decision stifled innovation, destroyed choice and subjected us to untold amounts of customer no service.

During a recent staff meeting, Christa was recalling how Clark's initial discussions of replay TV in the '90s drew blank stares around the table. Replay TV was a predecessor to TiVo, and now that's become a part of our culture. Clark also came in one day during the '90s talking about 802.11 protocol. Never heard of it? Perhaps you're familiar with its new name -- wifi. Let's fast-forward to 2011. Clark predicts that 3 years from now, you will have the ability to do what the Sezmi people say: Watch video content from any source, at any time, all for cheaper than what we pay for ordinary cable/satellite today.

Consumer advice courtesy of