CES Paints Worrying Picture For Telecoms

The Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas gives investors a preview of what's to come in the tech space at the beginning of each year.

From driverless cars to fitness tracking devices, this year's show has been no different, but while new technology gives consumers something to get excited about, telecom companies are looking to the show with concern as devices that make streaming even easier suggest that cable cord cutting is likely to become more popular.

Cord Cutting Still A Struggle

At the moment, completely removing cable from a household is an arduous task. For one, most companies like Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) offer bundles that include both TV and Internet, making it expensive to buy just an internet package. However another issue is ease of use.

Many consumers opt to continue with traditional cable because they are turned off by the fact that they'd have to manage several different streaming services and use different devices in order to get all of the shows they want to watch.

Smarter TVs

However, products at this year's CES suggest that managing TV streaming is about to get a whole lot easier. LG has created a range of TVs that include a guide of TV programs sourced from online sources like BuzzFeed and The Wall Street Journal.

Samsung's latest smart TVs are able to recognize add on boxes for streaming and automatically allow the TV's remote to control them.

Local Programming

Perhaps the most disruptive of all the TV streaming technology unveiled at CES was Vidgo, a streaming service that will give customers access to local channels around the country. One of the challenges that comes with cutting the cable cord is the loss of local programming like news channels.

If Vidgo is able to get local channels on board with its service, it could become the first low-cost, online, live TV service.

At the moment the company is only in the beta testing phase, but it is expected to launch its service during the first half of the year.