As interest in Internet-based programming rises, companies are racing to produce the best set-top box that meets consumer demand.  But will such efforts be enough for people to ditch traditional TV?

Though many see Internet-based programming as the next frontier for entertainment, adoption for new-age programming solutions has yet to steal significant market share from traditional TV. Show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel pointed out that the main reason for this is that traditional TV with commercials still makes the most money.

“The fact of the matter is, the amount of money we make from selling commercials on television, is 100 times as much from what we make from people watching our YouTube videos. And until those things even out somewhat, we’re going to be focused on television,” Kimmel stated.

Nevertheless, web-TV is a certainty for the future of video-based programming, and traditional entertainment providers are merely taking over the Internet as a distribution platform. Here’s the latest developments from the Internet-TV sector, with high hopes for Amazon’s next move, and a promising rumor thread for Google as well.

Amazon set-top box

Sources claim that Amazon is readying to unveil its set-top box any day now, and as previous rumors suggested, it will ship with Netflix and even Hulu Plus, which means more available content for Amazon Prime subscribers.

The Amazon set-top box will be running a forked version of Android, just like its Kindle Fire devices, and will come with a standard remote. Users can also expect to stream content from Amazon Prime Instant Video and Netflix directly from their smartphones.

No news yet as to how much the set-top box will cost.

Google

The search giant may be banking on gaming culture to create the ultimate set-top box. According to reports, Google has quietly acquired parts and labor of the independent game maker Green Throttle Games.  The search giant has confirmed this acquisition but declined to provide information as to how much the deal amounted to.  Google did say that Matt Crowley and Karl Townsend, and two of the three co-founders have joined Google.

Charles Huang will retain the rights to Green Throttle Games, but its Arena app will soon be removed from Google Play.  Its game console will remain on Amazon, but without Arena, the console is virtually useless.

Google is said to be interested in enhancing Green Throttle’s Bluetooth controller for use in the gaming set-top box.

No new yet as to when Google will be unveiling the said set-top box but we could be seeing it as early as June during this year’s Google I/O.

SXSW Interactive

At SXSW Interactive, no new tech products, apps or startups made waves.  Surprisingly, it’s television that made a splash – and not Internet-based TV, but the traditional tube. At the Austin, TX event, different gimmicks to promote upcoming shows are abundant. There are pedicabs made to look like iron thrones from the show Game of Thrones, and others with plastic domes to promote Under the Dome. HBO used the Oculus Rift to give people a sense of how majestic the giant ice wall is on GoT, and many others.

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