Cox Gives Up on Its 'Me Too' Streaming Video Service

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http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Cox-Gives-Up-on-Its-Me-Too-Streaming-Video-Service-136124

Cox has given up on the company's streaming video service before it has even hit the broader market. Back in November we noted how Cox was the lastest major ISP to decide to cook up its own streaming video platform, dubbed "MeTV." But Light Reading this week noticed the project's domains -- as well as its barely-launch social media promotion presence -- all suddenly disappeared. The company confirmed that the project is no more.


"We'll continue to explore the digital entertainment space, but we've decided not to launch MeTV as originally intended," Cox said of the service.


Broadband providers have a long, long history of trying to launch streaming video services they believe can either directly compete with Netflix, or at the very least keep in-house customers from cutting the cord.

The problem is that mega-ISPs aren't particularly good at innovating, so the services just don't wind up being very good. That's often because these companies don't want to develop something too innovative, for fear of disrupting the traditional cable cash cow. As a result you often wind up with services that are neither here nor there.

Be it Comcast's failed Streampix initiative, AT&T's pointless experiments with Hulu clones, or Verzion and Redbox's joint venture, the landscape is littered with failed dreams on this front. Most people think Verizon's Go90 service, which "curates" YouTube-esque content in an attempt to compete with YouTube, won't be too far behind them.

Cox may have realized the futility of the effort early, though the report notes that since Cox is now licensing Comcast's X1 set top tech, it may have just a redundant effort.
 
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