Things I Ponder: Would HBO Care if I Streamed Entourage to the World...

...but only on a 2" display screen? The capabilities to do this now are easy and I guess what I am thinking about is this: is there any value in HBO giving away their content on a tiny display? I can already stream from my ORB to a myspace or blog page the entire contents of my digital media library to a small display.

I do NOT recommend it as a way to watch Entourage. But, I think if I wasn't the media whore that I am and didn't have HBO already and wound up seeing Entourage on a 2" screen -- it would encourage me to BUY HBO so I could get the "full screen" version for my television.

A 2" screen is NOT the best way to watch Entourage so I don't believe there is any threat to the revenue stream from this. It doesn't hold up everywhere though -- I did the experiement with Family Guy and Family Guy is completely watchable on a 2" display and it didn't leave me thinking, "I need to see that on the big screen!"

One service I would pay $3 extra for a month from HBO is the ability to download the content I already paid for in a format that will work in my iPod. HBO can get a jump-start on Comcast and other competitors who will vie for my additional $3/here, $3 there, and one of the things I think people will wind up paying $3 here and there for is the ability to somehow broadcast what they are watching. Who gets my $3 here and there...I don't care whether it's Comcast, HBO, Tivo, Orb Networks, Apple, some company not in existence yet....