Watch Netflix Movies On Your TV

If we conducted a poll to find out who are the most hated utility companies in America, my bet is that cell phone operators and cable outfits would come out on top.

There's not much we can do about cell phones unless we choose to return to the era of tin cans connected with pieces of string. But what about the cable companies? Video seems to be everywhere these days so why am I left paying Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast and Co. 120 bucks a month for the privilege of watching Discovery Infections Diseases.....and 400 other nonsense channels that few sane people care about.

The bottom line is that cable companies have had it good for the last 20 years and we - the consumers - have just taken it on the chin and watched as fees have gone up and up.

But the landscape is starting to change and one of the companies leading the revolution is Netflix. First the company released its "Watch Now" service which - for the meager price of $8.99 per month - gave users the ability to watch unlimited streaming movies and TV shows on their computer.

This was a great step forward for the folks who are constantly glued to their laptops, but what about the flat screen TV love? And...ahem......HD?

Enter a small hardware manufacturer called Roku which released a set-top box that connects to users' Netflix accounts and allows them to watch movies directly through their TV.

The model is simple. Pay $99 up-front for the box, connect it to your TV, and simply continue your regular Netflix monthly membership and you're ready to access a library of over 12,000 movies and TV episodes.

Roku quickly added HD streaming for no extra charge and just recently added the ability to purchase and watch Amazon videos on demand.

What this means is that for under $10 a month users can have access to lots of good quality video content that they can watch whenever they want. Compare that to the $100 plus packages offered by cable companies.

Companies like Roku need only add a few extra video services to their platform (think Hulu, YouTube, HBO even) and suddenly it has the ability to transform into a genuine competitor to cable as a standalone pay-per-view service.

The cable companies clearly won't take this lying down as it challenges their underlying business model and ultimately will be forced to respond to the growth of the set-top box market (along with Roku there are other emerging players such as Apple TV and Vudu). All this should be great for the consumer and should lead to more choice, lower costs and ultimate the ability to pay only for programming that you actually want to watch.