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Apple, Amazon attack cracks in TV’s armor

Market research firm Parks Associates even predicted a very slight gain in the number of pay-television subscribers in the U.S. this year to 103.1 million, up from 102.5 million in 2013. That said, 2013 was a sore spot for pay TV, with one analyst concluding last November that it had suffered its worst 12-month stretch ever, with a drop of 113,000 subscribers in the third quarter.

The set-top boxes from Amazon, Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Roku are designed to deliver only Internet content on a TV, also called over-the-top content (OTT). And even though the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson that he had “cracked” the TV problem that makes it difficult to financially disrupt, Apple hasn’t forged new ground.

From the article, "Apple, Amazon attack cracks in TV’s armor" by Therese Poletti. 

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