Thinking Outside the Box: Web TVs Skirt Cable Giants

Considering cutting your Cablevision subscription? It's not just the cable industry that would rather you didn't; it's also TV networks and studios that make bank off your monthly bill.

But device-makers from Samsung to Boxee to Apple TV have no such concerns -- and they're continuing to roll out products that bypass the cable box and draw content and services directly from the web, setting up what could be one of the entertainment industry's biggest business battles of the next few years. Think: the current print-media implosion, but with much more money at stake.

"The consumer electronics makers are really the only ones who don't have anything to lose if consumers switch," said Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. "Everyone else is conflicted."