Will Tesla be another HDNet?
HDNet was a quirky U.S. cable channel born in 2000 when billionaire Mark Cuban wanted more high definition television on the TV dial. At launch, it had the HD road almost to itself as the only all-high definition, 24/7 channel in North America.
It’s only real point of difference was that everything was in beautiful, stunning HD. It was nice – for a time. It even was the only channel to cover the invasion of Afghanistan in 2002 in all-HD. It set a bar for others to follow.
However and of course, every TV channel moved to 100% high definition (now 4K, too!) and HDNet lost its raison d’etre. It tried to save itself with some original programming, such as the Dan Rather helmed news documentaries, some sexy travel programming and in the end, 30-minutes of Girls Gone Wild after midnight, but it essentially petered out.
It had an early technical edge with HD, but not much beyond that. But, some people happily paid a premium for it.
The channel still exists in the U.S. as a lightly watched lifestyle cable channel called AXS TV and as separate brand called HDNet Movies (which airs nothing but reruns). Canadian cable, satellite and IPTV companies no longer carry it. It adds too little value.
Every other bigger, better, stronger, more well established media company took their excellent content and made it in high definition – and for free when it came to broadcasters like ABC, Global, CTV, and NBC. We didn’t need an HD-only channel anymore because everyone is in HD. So HDNet became a sort of a footnote in TV’s history.
The same could happen to Tesla in the automotive sector. Right now it has a technological advantage, making what’s acknowledged to be the best battery powered vehicles on the road. They are high-end, sexy as hell, faster than Ferraris and go the farthest on a charge (or so I’ve read). Tech and automotive writers love the cars and the company founder Elon Musk – and rightly so. The company has also taken the lead on driverless car technology and battery development.
However, Volvo last week said that it will soon make no cars with just internal combustion engines, upgrading to all-electric or hybrids for all models – and the Swedish company was the first to deploy an automatic braking system in its models, which is a step to driverless cars.
Volvo is not alone though. Every other car manufacturer has goals for better battery powered cars and more computer assisted driving technology in the not-too-distant future. Mercedes, BMW, Ford, GM, Toyota – every one of these giant manufacturers will eventually catch up to Tesla when it comes to technology – and because of their existing manufacturing and distribution channels, will certainly offer them at a lower cost, and across far more models.
When that happens, will Tesla lose its edge? Is it in danger of becoming like HDNet, a footnote in automotive history, when all others catch up?