We had no cable (only clear internet) for about 2 months.
Family TV time was scheduled to a couple of nights a week, but very little random viewing. We had a stack of shows downloaded, plus netflix and hulu.
A couple of shows were missed, but just because I didn't care enough to go get them.

BUT: The wimmen were not amused. they use the TV as background noise, and expect to flick around and use the channel guide and hit pause on any random show that they are interested in. The immediate gratification and choice selection (of shows I would not spend 30 seconds on, and certainly not track them down and download) went far beyond anything I neeeded or cared about.

So it set us up for arguments. Why was I keeping their shows from them? Not a good place to be in.

I think their cost of support will be dramatically less than any of the other bundled service ISPs, which will be a huge benefit on the profit side.

And even better, they are pricing their service for total development penetration. They have that odd "lifetime" option if you pay for installation, which is really just for the length of time you are at that residence, which gives them a constant ability to sell to you, and then the next people at the residence and the next.

Why would anyone call for comcast or direct TV if you have a "limited" google TV when you move in to a house, and then simply need to press a button to upgrade it? Even if you never heard of it before, you'll give it a shot if it is already working.

People with think of them as physical infrastructure when you move into a house. Water, electricity, gas, google. You were already carrying your cell phone, no need for that. If the previous people had it physically installed, and Google has a default limited free selection, you are going to simply watch for a while.

BANG. They gotcha.

Their incremental costs are tiny and all that dark fiber is waiting to be turned on.

Their ads will be targeted to YOU. They know "you", they know where you live, and they know you just moved. When people move into a house they spend a huge amount of money on a shitload of other things, because it is a significant life change situation. The "new mover" lists are the most expensive ones in the mail industry, these people are primed to blow money. Google gets to advertise to them directly. And their ads will be driven by the web searches they did.

They will be the 1st cable company to allow for DIRECT marketing. This is special. Direct marketing (targeted personalised mail) is HUGE, and they will convert it into a full AV presentation with an information backchannel that tells the advertiser who watched it, for how long, and at what moment they clicked away. This information will in turn guide the next ad on a different channel, possibly in real time!

And when you want to buy something (or get more info), you hit a button, and the mike on the box next to the TV turns on and you get to speak to a salesperson, while the TV shows the salesperson in real time. It just became 1/2 of a video conference (people will get skeeved by the camera so they won't turn that on (yet)), but people will accept the mike immediately the box next to your TV.

All the while the TV show that you were watching is being recorded in the background, no muss, no fuss, waiting for you. TV ads will turn into immediate buy and upsell opportunities for the marketers. All those call 1-800 call centers will be converted and used as their back-end.

Every salesperson in the world is salivating for this.